UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Onwards and upwards? Migration and social mobility of the UK graduates

Wielgoszewska, B; (2018) Onwards and upwards? Migration and social mobility of the UK graduates. Regional Studies, Regional Science , 5 (1) pp. 402-411. 10.1080/21681376.2018.1552188. Green open access

[thumbnail of Wielgoszewska_Onwards and upwards. Migration and social mobility of the UK graduates_VoR.pdf]
Preview
Text
Wielgoszewska_Onwards and upwards. Migration and social mobility of the UK graduates_VoR.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Ensuring equal opportunity for people from diverse backgrounds is a major political concern, and spatial aspects to this debate relate to the availability of opportunity in different regions of the UK. In particular, migration between the regions of the UK is common amongst domestic students and graduates, and has been shown to have consequences for both the region of origin and the destination. Despite the recognition that migration is not a one-off event, but an ongoing process, empirical studies rarely operationalize it in ways reflecting this continuity. This study contributes to filling the above-described gap by investigating how the patterns of graduates’ migration across their life-course relate to their intra-generational social mobility. Longitudinal data, extracted from the 1970 British Cohort Study, and sequence analysis are used to derive the typologies of these patterns. A set of logistic regressions is used to investigate the relationship between these two, simultaneous aspects of graduates’ life-courses over the long term. The findings indicate that graduates’ migration across their life-course is significantly related to their intra-generational social mobility. In particular, temporary migration safeguards the advantaged position of the most privileged, in line with the notion of a ‘glass floor’. At the same time, it can create a ‘glass ceiling’ for those on less privileged trajectories. In the light of these findings, both academics and policy-makers are encouraged to incorporate migration, both theoretically and practically, into their research approaches.

Type: Article
Title: Onwards and upwards? Migration and social mobility of the UK graduates
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/21681376.2018.1552188
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2018.1552188
Language: English
Additional information: © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/).
Keywords: graduates, migration, intra-generational social mobility, sequence analysis
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10078335
Downloads since deposit
119Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item