Beyond Access in Social Mobility Researchsticerd.lse.ac.uk/seminarpapers/wpa03062015.pdf · Finance Media Lawyers IT Doctors Academics Public Sector Built Environment Accountants

Beyond Access in Social Mobility

ResearchInvestigating the

‘Class’ CeilingDaniel Laurison & Sam Friedman

CASE Seminar, 3 June 2015

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Our Research Questions

1. What is the relative social exclusivity of different elite occupations in Britain?

2. Do the upwardly mobile face a ‘class ceiling’ in terms of earnings within elite occupations?

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Mobility within elite occupations

• Dominant focus on mobility rates between ‘big classes’ of the NS-SEC or EGP

• Reduces conversation around mobility to issues of occupational access

• Little known about how the upwardly mobile fare within elite occupations

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

A Class Ceiling?

• Do the mobile achieve highest level of success or face ‘glass ceiling’ associated with women and ethnic minorities?

• Our work on BBC Great British Class Survey indicates upwardly mobile may earn considerably less than the stable within elite occupations (Friedman, Laurison, Miles, 2015)

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Data and ApproachElite occupations: NS-SEC 1

higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations; 63 unique occupations, plus media professionals

Excluded respondents:in full-time educationnot aged 23-69without parental occupation data

43,444 respondents from the July-September 2014 Quarterly Labour Force Survey

6,104 in NS-SEC 1 occupations plus 127 media 3,427 with income, origin, AND occupation data

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

How We Measure Social Mobility

Higher Manager and Professional parents (NS-SEC 1) inter-generationally stable

Lower Manager and Professional parents (NS-SEC 2) short-range upwardly mobile

Parents in Intermediate Occupations, Self-Employed, or Lower Supervisory positions (NS-SEC 3, 4 and 5)

mid-range upwardly mobile

Parents in Semi-Routine or Routine work (NS-SEC 6 and 7) long-range upwardly mobile

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Reproduction of Privilege

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

Higher Mgrs Higher Profs Lower Mgrs & Profs NS-SEC 3-7

Higher mgr & prof parents Lower mgr & prof parents Intermediate Parents Routine & Semi-Routine Parents

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Continuing Exclusivity of Medicine And Law

micro-stable stable

short-range mobile

mid-range mobile

long-range mobile N

Medical practitioners 21.6% 52.6% 22.6% 20.7% 4.2% 259Law 18.8% 42.6% 19.6% 24.7% 13.0% 214

Other Life Science Professionals 6.5% 37.6% 20.2% 32.2% 10.0% 180Media Professionals 4.9% 36.3% 26.2% 24.9% 12.6% 127Other Professionals 9.0% 33.8% 23.2% 26.2% 16.8% 146

Finance 4.8% 30.8% 16.2% 38.9% 14.2% 249Scientists 3.9% 30.2% 24.8% 33.0% 12.1% 247

Academics 7.3% 29.8% 27.1% 31.1% 12.0% 164Business Professionals 2.6% 27.8% 22.3% 32.2% 17.7% 949

Accountants 1.8% 26.2% 17.5% 38.0% 18.4% 323Built Environment Professionals 7.6% 25.7% 18.9% 40.5% 15.0% 150

Managers and Directors in Business 2.7% 24.9% 18.1% 37.4% 19.6% 773Protective Civil Service 8.2% 24.7% 11.9% 36.6% 26.8% 82

Information Technology 3.1% 24.5% 24.8% 33.7% 17.1% 736Engineers 3.2% 21.8% 21.8% 38.1% 18.4% 452

Public Sector Managers & Professionals 1.6% 16.4% 24.2% 41.7% 17.7% 298s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

stable short-range mobile mid-range mobile long-range mobile

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

The ‘Class’ Ceiling (Mean Gross Weekly Earnings in NS-SEC 1 by Social Origin)

£0

£200

£400

£600

£800

£1,000

£1,200

£1,400

NS-SEC 1, all NS-SEC 1.1 NS-SEC 1.2

micro-stable macro-stable short-range mobile mid-range mobile long-range mobiles.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Modelling Earnings DifferencesOLS regression, DV = weekly gross earnings, also logged weekly gross earnings, gross hourly pay.

IV of interest = origin (short-range mobile, mid-range mobile, long-range mobile vs stable)

“Human Capital”/skills Educational Qualifications: reference= University Degree, Post-Graduate education, Less than University Degree; Job-Related Training last 3 months (binary); Job Tenure (in years)

Work Context: Paid hours worked in last week; Public sector (vs private); Industry 9-category: reference=Public admin, education and health, Agriculture, forestry and fishing, Energy and water, Manufacturing, Construction, Distribution, hotels and restaurant, Transport and communication, Banking and finance, Other services; Firm Size, reference= less than 25 employees, 25 to 49, 50 to 499, 500 or more

Individual Attributes: Age (in years); Age squared; Female; Not White; Location: reference = London, Southeast Urban, Rest of UK Urban, SE Non-Urban, Rest of UK Non-Urban; Immigrant status (binary).

Occupation: Professionals (vs Managers) (in models with both NS-SEC 1.1 & 1.2), specific SOC 2010 code (I let Stata choose the reference category)

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Results: OLS Regressions, EarningsCoefficients for Class Origin (vs Stable)

NS-SEC 1 (ALL) NS-SEC 1.1 NS-SEC 1.2Weekly Gross Earnings (untransformed GBP)

Short-range Mobile (NS-SEC 2 parents) -40.19 -11.81 -50.75*

Mid-range Mobile (NS-SEC 3, 4, 5) -87.33*** -81.65* -86.81***

Long-range Mobile (NS-SEC 6 & 7) -115.38*** -110.99* -117.45***Logged Weekly Gross Earnings

Short-range Mobile -0.039 -0.013 -0.047Mid-range Mobile -0.080*** -0.077 -0.081***

Long-range Mobile -0.127*** -0.108* -0.135***Hourly Gross Earnings £

Short-range Mobile -1.118 -1.368 -1.072Mid-range Mobile -2.243*** -2.329 -2.112***

Long-range Mobile -3.495*** -2.98 -3.308***

N 3219 798 2421s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Estimated Class Pay Gap Among Higher Professionals

-£7,000

-£6,000

-£5,000

-£4,000

-£3,000

-£2,000

-£1,000

£0short-range mobile mid-range mobile long-range mobile

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Separate Models by Gender

-200 -100 0 100

Men Women

-300 -200 -100 0 100 200

Ethnic Minorities Whites

Short-

Range

Upw

ardly

Mobile

Mid-Ran

ge U

pward

ly Mob

ile

Long

-Ran

ge U

pward

ly Mob

ile

-

Separate Models by Ethnic Group

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Double Disadvantage for Women

£0

£10,000

£20,000

£30,000

£40,000

£50,000

£60,000

women men

stable shortrange midrange longrange

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Separate Models by Age Group

e

e

e

-600 -400 -200 0 200

23 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 - 59 60 - 69

Short-R

ange U

pwardly M

obile

Mid-Ran

ge U

pwardly

Mobile

Long

-Rang

e Upw

ardly

Mobile

-

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Class Pay Gap by Occupational Groupall controls, all mobile vs stable

FinanceMedia

LawyersIT

DoctorsAcademics

Public SectorBuilt Environment

AccountantsBusiness Professionals

EngineersMgrs & Dirs in Business

Other ProfessionalsProtective Civil Servants

Other Life ScienceScientists

-400 -200 0 200

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Estimated Annual Earnings Gap, All Mobile vs Stable

-£12,000

-£10,000

-£8,000

-£6,000

-£4,000

-£2,000

£0Finance Media Law IT

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

… and finally, by Region

North East

Scotland

Eastern

Yorkshire & Humberside

South East

South West

East Midlands

North West

West Midlands

London

Wales

-300 -200 -100 0 100 200

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Summary of Key Findings

1. Beyond ‘access’, upwardly mobile face a powerful class ceiling in terms of pay progression

2. Class pay gap exacerbated for women who face a double disadvantage

3. Class Ceiling not uniform among elite occupations – particularly strong in law, finance, IT and media

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Implications for Mobility Studies

1. Importing Feminist concept of ‘glass ceiling’ may be useful for mobility scholars

2. Going beyond ‘access’ shows importance of resources that stem from both big- and micro-class origins

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk

Limitations and Future ResearchLFS data is a game-changer but sample size for specific occupations is still small

We aim to follow up in two main ways:1. To use longitudinal data to examine whether there

are particular points in career trajectories where mobile face barriers

2. To conduct 200 qualitative interviews with bankers, journalists, engineers, actors and barristers to explore experience of mobility in elite occupations

s.e.friedman@lse.ac.uk; d.r.laurison@lse.ac.uk