Even when their parents are lawyers, doctors, or executives, Black Britons are substantially more likely to end up in working class jobs than their White peers, a new study from the University of Kent reveals.
Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, this research shows that Black men from the most advantaged families are three times more likely than White men from similar backgrounds to be in working class jobs beyond age 30. Black women are also twice as likely as White women to experience this kind of downward mobility. This is true even after removing any effect of national origin.
The study, conducted by Dr Robert de Vries and published in Sociological Research Online, shows that advantaged Black families face substantial barriers in maintaining their status across generations. The absence of these barriers for privileged White families means that they are much more likely to pass on their advantage to their children - contributing to persistent racial inequalities in the UK labour market.
The research analysed the occupations of 8,000 men and women whose parents held high-status, professional jobs, using nationally representative data from the UK Labour Force Survey. The findings additionally showed that the increased risk of downward mobility faced by Black women was predominantly explained by lower educational qualifications - suggesting particular barriers in the education system. However, Black men were more likely to be downwardly mobile even after education was taken into account. In fact, Black men from advantaged backgrounds were four times more likely than equally educated White men to end up in working class roles.
Dr Robert de Vries, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Sociology at Kent's School of Social Sciences, said: 'This research shows that even when Black families make it to the top, their children are much more likely to fall back down the social ladder than are the children of privileged White families. This means that racial economic disparities in the UK will not be solved by upward mobility alone. Policy needs to address the barriers that Black Britons, and especially Black men, face in the labour market - even when they have the same qualifications as their White peers.'
The research paper titled 'Inequalities in the Risk of Multidimensional Downward Mobility From the Most Advantaged Backgrounds' is published in Sociological Research Online. doi: 10.1177/13607804241281175
