Income inequality to blame for low social mobility

This article is provided courtesy of the news feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news

A new study claims half of a child’s future earning potential is determined at birth.

The TUC bi-monthly economic report found a ‘wage premium’ linked to growing up in a better-educated family and a similar ‘wage penalty’ associated with a less-educated family, with education playing an important part in transferring advantage and disadvantage from one generation to the next.

According to Social mobility, the UK has the highest link between individual and parental earnings of all the countries on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development database.

The UK’s 50% score sees it lagging behind Denmark, Australia, Norway, Finland and Canada who all scored less than 20%.

The TUC is calling for higher taxes for the rich and a more skilled workforce to help address the UK’s social mobility issue.

General secretary Brendan Barber also warned that cuts in public services and social security would ‘almost certainly’ reduce levels of social mobility and increase inequality.

'The government is right to identify that social disadvantage in the UK is a problem which is holding people back,’ he said. 'The evidence shows that social mobility is greatest in societies with low levels of income inequality.

'For everyone to have an equal chance of success there needs to be a much smaller gap between rich and poor in the first place.’