From Lane Kenworthy’s “It’s Hard to Make It in America” in the Nov./Dec. 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs:

… in a sharp reversal of historical trends, there is now less equality of opportunity in the United States than in most other wealthy democratic nations. Data exist for ten of the United States’ peer countries (rich long-standing democracies). The United States has less relative intergenerational mobility than eight of them; Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom all do better. The United States is on par with France and Italy.

The whole article is worth a read.