Vallely, M., Findlay, J. and Hermannsson, K. (2024) Is the social origin pay gap bigger than we thought? Identifying and acknowledging workers with undefined social origins in survey data. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 92, 100952. (doi: 10.1016/j.rssm.2024.100952)
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Abstract
This article investigates whether empirical studies have underestimated the social origin pay gap by omitting respondents with undefined social origins. Specifically, individuals that were not assigned a social origin because the identity of their parental household was unclear, nobody was earning in the household, or the occupational identity of the main wage earner could not be identified. Data from the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey is analysed to establish the prevalence of undefined social origins and the extent to which the socioeconomic characteristics of these groups are different from those who can be identified using the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). The results show that 10.5% of the working age population have undefined social origins and that the labour market outcomes of these people are worse than those with defined social origins. Results show that omitting these respondents underestimates the range of the social origin pay gap and the number of people affected.
Item Type: | Articles |
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Additional Information: | An earlier version of this article was published as a working paper, available here: https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/295176/ |
Keywords: | Item non-response, labour market outcomes, pay gaps, social origin. |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Findlay, Professor Jeanette and Hermannsson, Professor Kristinn |
Authors: | Vallely, M., Findlay, J., and Hermannsson, K. |
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HA Statistics H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
College/School: | College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Economics College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Educational Leadership & Policy |
Journal Name: | Research in Social Stratification and Mobility |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
ISSN: | 0276-5624 |
ISSN (Online): | 1878-5654 |
Published Online: | 06 July 2024 |
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd |
First Published: | First published in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 92:100952 |
Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy |
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