Equal opportunities? The effect of social background on transition from education to work among graduates in Norway†

Abstract

This article studies the impact of parental education on the education‐to‐work transition among graduates in Norway during the time period 1987–2001. Four indicators of labour market success are examined: (1) main activity after graduation, (2) mismatch in the labour market, (3) type of job position, and (4) monetary outcome. The findings indicate a small yet significant influence of parental education when entering the labour market. This is found for all indicators except the ‘type of job position’ indicator, for which having two parents with higher education has a small significant impact whereas having one parent with higher education has no impact on labour market success. However, the impact of parental education is minor and explains only about 1% of the variations in labour market success among the graduates. Thus, parental education does not seem to have any substantial impact on the transition from education to work among graduates in Norway. †This paper is based on a study previously published in Norwegian; see Opheim (2004a).