Higher education critical to social mobility, say researchers

Australians from low-income families often struggle to move into higher-income jobs—and better access to higher education is the most obvious way to improve this, a national research project has found.

The study used household income and work data from a survey that has measured national trends for 18 years. It involved researchers from the University of Wollongong in regional New South Wales, the Australian National University in Canberra and the University of Technology Sydney.

The researchers measured income mobility using a scale of zero to one, where zero meant a person’s income had no relation to that of their parents and one signified that social advantage or disadvantage was transferred.