1. Social mobility and the economy
Oxera’s research for The Sutton Trust
Dr Helen Jenkins
Managing Partner
12 July 2017

2. Key questions
What is the relationship between social mobility and the economy?
How has social mobility in the UK changed over time?

3. What is social mobility? Focus on inter-generational mobility
How is your achievement influenced by that of your parents?
Mobility
Immobility
Parent
time 1
Descendant
time 2 1 2 3 4 5
Parent
time 1
Descendant
time 2 1 2 3 4 5

4. What did we find? The UK lags behind on social mobility
How much more income does an individual earn if their father reached tertiary education?
In the UK, the gap between the income of those whose father reached tertiary education (e.g. university) and those whose father did not is large
Source: Oxera analysis using data from OECD (2010), A Family Affair: Intergenerational Social Mobility across OECD Countries, p. 188.

5. How does mobility affect the economy
How does mobility affect the economy? Enables better matching of people to jobs
Immobility leads to underutilised talent
For example:
educational opportunity may be limited for some
recruitment processes may inadvertently filter out talented individuals— their talents are obscured
Some potential candidates are obscured (e.g. filtered out of the application process)
In a more socially mobile society, all candidates are visible and the best fit can be selected

6. What did we find? Modest increases in social mobility are associated with material increases in productivity—£39bn or £590 per person
Social mobility is associated with better matching….
…and better matching of people to jobs increases productivity
Long-term productivity gain (today’s prices)
Using:
new analysis of the relationship between social mobility and matching across Europe; and
existing research on the link between matching and productivity
we estimated the productivity ‘gap’ which is associated with low levels of social mobility
£590 per person

7. Contact: Helen Jenkins 01865 253016 helen.jenkins@oxera.com
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