Who gets the Top Jobs? The role of family background and networks in recent graduates' access to high status professions

Lindsey Macmillan (), Claire Tyler () and Anna Vignoles
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Claire Tyler: Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education, University of London

No 13-15, DoQSS Working Papers from Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London

Abstract: There is currently a debate in policy circles about access to "the upper echelons of power" (Sir John Major, ex Prime Minister, 2013). This research seeks to understand the relationship between family background and early access to top occupations. We find that privately educated graduates are a third more likely to enter into high status occupations than state educated graduates from similarly affluent families and neighbourhoods. A modest part of this difference is driven by educational attainment with a larger part of the story working through the university that the privately educated graduates attend. Staying on to do a Masters and higher degree is also a (smaller) part of the picture. We explore one potential mechanism which is often posited as a route in accessing top jobs: the role of networks. We find that although networks cannot account for the private school advantage, the use of networks provides an additional advantage over and above background and this varies by the type of top occupation that the graduate enters. A private school graduate who uses personal networks to enter into a top managerial position has a 1.5 percentage point advantage (on a baseline 6.1%) over a state school graduate who uses other ways to find their job.

Keywords: intergenerational mobility; social mobility; networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J62 L14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lab, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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