YOUNG PEOPLE’S INCOMES ARE STILL TOO DEPENDENT ON MUM AND DAD’S WEALTH, SAYS NEW REPORT
The UK’s poor track record of social mobility means that young people’s life chances are too dependent on their parents’ income, rather than their own education and ability.
A new report published today warns that the UK has the highest level of ‘earnings persistence’ — the extent to which young people’s incomes are associated with those of their parents — amongst advanced economies. (We share first place jointly with Italy, with the United States and France coming third and fourth. The lowest levels of earnings persistence are found in Denmark and Norway.
Dismantling the Barriers to Social Mobility – produced by the TUC – also warns that the price poorer families pay for the UK’s lack of social mobility is getting worse as the income gap between the richest and poorest households has widened over the last 30 years.
The report analyses the UK’s track record on seven key factors influencing social mobility and compares its performance to that of other advanced economies.
It highlights four factors — income inequality, childhood poverty, full-time women’s employment and the link between family background and educational performance — where the UK lags behind most other advanced economies and suggests that political parties should prioritise these issues in order to make genuine inroads into encouraging greater social mobility.
Many readers of Graduate Fog are likely to have first-hand experience of another way that inequality has become entrenched in the UK – through a lack of fair access to the best jobs upon leaving university. Many of you say your parents’ financial circumstances can make the difference between making it and not making it in your chosen industry. The effect is most obvious in industries like politics, fashion and media, where long unpaid internships and lengthy periods of low-paid work have become essential before graduates stand any chance of being offered a better paid job.
While all mainstream political parties appear to agree on the need to tackle the barriers to social mobility, their proposals to tackle it vary wildly, from deregulation and lower taxes to free school meals and a stronger social security safety net.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“People’s incomes in Britain are more influenced by their parents’ wealth than in any other advanced country.
“This lack of social mobility holds millions of people back and means that they don’t get a fair share of the benefits of a growing economy, such as decent pay and educational opportunities. Worse still, rising inequality means that the price people pay for a lack of social mobility is getter bigger.
“But while few people in this country would argue against social mobility, successive governments have a poor track record of tackling it.”
Graduate Fog is concerned by this new report – but we are not surprised. While many of the broad range of aspects it focuses on are less familiar to us, we do know that there have been serious problems with fair access to the best graduate jobs for many years.
We have witnessed how ‘intern creep’ has been allowed to spread from being a small problem in a few industries to a large problem in many. And we also know that too many graduate employers still hire only from a ‘golden list’ of elite universities, which are disproportionately likely to be attended by those who were at private school.
However, we welcome the report’s publication. Studies that throw light on the reality of the situation are always a good thing. And hard facts help to back up the case for correcting inequality and unfairness within the current system without further delay.
*ARE YOUR PARENTS’ FINANCES IMPACTING YOUR INCOME?
Are you struggling to gain experience in your chosen field because your parents can’t fund you through unpaid internships or other low-paid work? What can be done to correct the UK’s social mobility problems? Share your story, views and ideas below…
Let’s face it, most well-off families will make sure their offsprings target RG universities, not ex-polys. And we all know that average starting salaries are higher at these educational establishments. Children will have been privately-educated (you get what you pay for) and obtain the A’level grades to secure a place. Plus, connections will facilitate entry into the world of work, read Bourdieu’s social capital theory. Only the gullible (or non-educated)would let their kids read Media Studies at an ex-poly. And let them pay £9K a year. Sad but true.
I am a brown Muslim from a middle class background, struggled to get a career. I have dyspraxia as well, as well as aspergers traits.
My friend with dyspraxia, dyslexia, aspergers traits, he has a 2:2 in Business Studies from Liverpool university, he is an Indian Hindu, his parents are accountants, he had to leave his grad scheme, sacked from admin jobs, he has dyspraxia, it is a disabling condition.
The only Universities in the United Kingdom that can open career doors, are Eton, Cambridge and Oxford, the rest are just a downward spiral into the abyss.
Anyone who decides to study a degree at an ex polytechnic University are being deceived, and out-rightly ripped off.
These are the Universities that not only Employers look down on, they are also have a part to play in the current graduate unemployment trend.
Even though graduate vacancies are in short supply, a degree from an ex polytechnic University will only get you shown the door as graduates from Universities such as Oxford etc: will have a massive advantage and higher social status.
Any graduate who believes that they can walk into a job with a degree from a ex polytechnic University is idiotic, deluded, and probably doesn’t have the talent to succeed in graduate labour market.
Desmond.
Not really true. I study in a STEM field and we have had employers / entrepreneurs coming in from universities well outside of oxford and cambridge who are doing a great deal. Oxford and cambridge are not the world. The University of Manchester has the 3rd highest research output in the UK, and I imagine the linkes of Manchester / Warwick etc may well challenge the likes of oxbridge in years to come.
@ Chaz
Manchester, or Warwick are not ex-polys. I cannot believe some of these post-1994 institutions are accepting candidates with 2 ‘E’ grades at A’level, and, sometimes, during the Clearing process in September, with only one! And charge £9K per year! That should not be allowed to happen and loans denied. The government should regulate.
Even at Oxbridge and RG universities, subjects such as English, History, Politics etc should be subject to tight quotas. We do not need graduates in these fields of study. A computer science graduate who has found a job as a database developer is 10X more useful on the job market than an unemployed English literature graduate who can recite Shakespeare.
Mis-orientated at school, I graduated with 2 degrees, both in the social sciences at university and what did I learn from my degrees? Nothing that I could not have picked up in a book at Waterstones’ or Blackwells or better still, in my local public library! My degree certificates have been worthless in the world of work!
@ Desmond
Eton is not university. I would even go as far as to say that if you have received a decent education at school (with motivating teachers who care and drive young people forward), and taken A’levels that are HARD (Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science), performed well at them, there is very little point in a university education. I have found university assessments to be a joke in comparison to A’Levels. And that was back in 1993!
Quite sad to see all the extreme ex-Poly bashing in the comments here. I’ve just finished a degree from Brighton University, which used to be a polytechnic. The teaching quality was very good, I worked very hard and got high grades. I’d like to think my degree is not worthless! Everyone graduate who is capable, keen and hard-working should be able to get a graduate job, never mind which university they went to. I know that’s not how the economy is at the moment, but it’s not ex-Poly universities and their students that are the problem.
In terms of the article though I agree, I think your parent’s incomes makes a big difference for sure. I come from a poor family and they cannot support we while I work unpaid, at all. I have got an interview for a paid internship though so fingers crossed!