statistics

• Goldthorpe: Oxford mobility study:

  • Surveyed 10k men in england and wales between 1972-74

  He found:

  • Britain had significant social mobility, as many men went from w.c backgrounds to m.c
  • Although mobility was present, opportunities were not distributed evenly
  • Class barriers still remained strong & people from upper class bg had better chances of achieving high status jobs
• Guardian newspaper: Private educated people make up 7% of the population but:

  • 71% of judges
  • 44% of sunday times rich list
  • 44% of those in TV, film & music
  • 43% of newspaper columnists
  • 33% of MPs
• in 2012 High pay centre:

  • Pay of chief executives in the 100 largest companies in London stock exchange had risen by 49% in that year. Their employees salaries only rose by 3%.
  • Chief executives pay is 162x more than the average british wage
• ONS:

  • Poorest 50% of the population have only 10% of the wealth.
  • The poorest 10% have no wealth
  • Richest 10% have 44% of the wealth
  • Richest 20% have 62% of the wealth
• Report by resolution foundation think tank:

  • 77% of employees aged under 20 earned less than the living wage
• Social mobility commission:

  • The better off are 80% more likely to end up in prof jobs than those from a w.c background
  • Even when people from disadvantaged backgrounds land professional jobs, they earn 17% less than their privileged colleagues
• Trussel trust, 2014:

  • 4.7 million people were in food poverty, compared to fewer than 26k in 2008/9