Abstract
Education—and in particular higher education—is often regarded as a route to social mobility. For this to be the case, however, the link between family background and adult outcomes must be broken (or at least reduced) once we take account of an individual’s education history. This paper provides new evidence on differences in graduates’ earnings by socio-economic background, exploiting rich individual-level data to account for more of the ways in which graduates from different socio-economic backgrounds differ from each other than has been possible in previous research on this topic. We continue to find significant differences between the earnings of graduates from lower and higher socio-economic backgrounds, even after accounting for a rich array of characteristics, skills and experiences from before individuals went to university, as well as their labour market experiences subsequently. These results suggest that it is not enough simply to encourage more young people to go to university, or even to ensure that they graduate with “good” degrees; policymakers interested in increasing social mobility also need to focus on what happens to them once they leave university to ensure that higher education is truly able to “level the playing field” between those from different socio-economic backgrounds.
Highlights
Increasing social mobility has emerged as a key goal of government policy in the UK and US in recent years, largely in response to research that has found substantial social immobility in both countries [1,2,3]
It shows that controlling for fathers’ social class alone over-estimates its importance as a determinant of graduate earnings: once we account for being raised in a family with income in the top quintile group, and for whether an individual’s mother or father has at least A-levels, the coefficient on social class falls by almost half
This paper has examined the link between socio-economic background and earnings amongst graduates in the years following acquisition of their degree, with a view to understanding when and how policymakers might be able to intervene to ensure that individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds have similar opportunities to access “top jobs” and progress in the labour market
Summary
Increasing social mobility has emerged as a key goal of government policy in the UK and US in recent years, largely in response to research that has found substantial social immobility in both countries [1,2,3]. The role that education can potentially play in driving social mobility may be weakened if there remains a link between family background and adult outcomes, even once we account for attainment at school and university. Some sociological theories (e.g., [7]) would suggest that educational attainment is insufficient in and of itself to secure the same occupational status and labour market success for disadvantaged students as for those from more advantaged backgrounds. This is because students from lower socio-economic backgrounds may lack other forms of capital, such as social capital, and are less likely to succeed in the labour market as a result
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
