Relative occupational mobility
Published: 12 September 2023
Data on relative occupational mobility – the link between people’s occupational class and their parents’ occupational class.
Summary main findings
Between 2014 and 2022, the link between people’s occupational class and their parents’ occupational class got weaker.
In the 5 years from 2018 to 2022 combined:
- people from the Black, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese ethnic groups had higher levels of relative occupational mobility than White people
- disabled people had lower levels of relative occupational mobility than non-disabled people
- levels of relative occupational mobility were similar in most parts of the UK
By year
Visualisation
Percentage point difference in relative occupational mobility compared to the odds ratio in 2014 (UK, 2014 to 2022)
Data
| Year | Percentage point difference |
|---|---|
| 2022 | -1.2 |
| 2021 | -2.3 |
| 2020 | -1.2 |
| 2019 | -1.2 |
| 2018 | -0.9 |
| 2017 | -0.6 |
| 2016 | -0.8 |
| 2015 | -0.7 |
| 2014 | 0.0 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By area
Visualisation
Percentage point difference in relative mobility between UK regions and Inner West London (UK, 2018 to 2022 combined)
41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest percentage point difference. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions.
The lines either side of the dots represent confidence intervals – the range of values that the 'true' value for each region is highly likely to be within. In many cases the confidence intervals overlap. This suggests differences between specific regions may not be statistically significant.
See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.
Data
| Region | Percentage point difference |
|---|---|
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | -2.0 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | -1.0 |
| Cheshire | -0.4 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | -2.5 |
| Cumbria | -1.9 |
| Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | -0.8 |
| Devon | -2.2 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 0.0 |
| East Anglia | 0.6 |
| East Wales | -3.4 |
| East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | -1.2 |
| Eastern Scotland | -0.2 |
| Essex | -3.1 |
| Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area | -0.4 |
| Greater Manchester | -1.9 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | -2.9 |
| Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | -1.9 |
| Highlands and Islands | -6.1 |
| Inner London - East | -0.9 |
| Inner London - West | 0.0 |
| Kent | -1.5 |
| Lancashire | -2.8 |
| Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | -3.2 |
| Lincolnshire | 0.2 |
| Merseyside | -2.3 |
| North Eastern Scotland | 0.1 |
| North Yorkshire | -2.6 |
| Northern Ireland | 2.1 |
| Northumberland and Tyne and Wear | -0.5 |
| Outer London - East and North East | -3.2 |
| Outer London - South | -1.6 |
| Outer London - West and North West | -4.3 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | -0.6 |
| South Yorkshire | -1.1 |
| Southern Scotland | -1.2 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | -1.9 |
| Tees Valley and Durham | -0.3 |
| West Central Scotland | -0.6 |
| West Midlands | -2.7 |
| West Wales and The Valleys | -0.9 |
| West Yorkshire | -1.3 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By sex and ethnicity
Visualisation
Relative occupational mobility by ethnicity and sex in the UK, 2018 to 2022 (combined), uniform difference (UNIDIFF) parameter estimates compared with the White British group
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data
| Ethnicity | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladeshi | -7.5 | -7.2 |
| Chinese | -3.4 | -10.6 |
| Indian | -1.2 | -5.5 |
| Pakistani | -5.0 | -11.6 |
| Black African | -6.7 | -3.4 |
| Black Caribbean | -7.5 | -6.6 |
| Mixed | -0.6 | -3.4 |
| White British | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| White other | 1.8 | -0.2 |
| Other | -2.5 | -6.3 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By disability status
Visualisation
Relative occupational mobility by disability status in the UK, 2018 to 2022 (combined), uniform difference (UNIDIFF) parameter estimates for people with a disability compared with people without a disability
Data
| Disabled | Percentage point difference |
|---|---|
| Yes | 0.84 |
| No | 0 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey 2014 to 2022
Time period
2014 to 2022
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows changes in relative occupational mobility – the extent to which your occupational class is related to your parents’ occupational class.
High levels of relative occupational mobility can be due to both downward and upward mobility.
Things you need to know
Survey respondents were 25 to 64 years old. Areas represent where respondents lived when they were aged 14 years.
The data uses the ‘UNIDIFF’ (uniform difference) model, which compares ‘odds ratios’ for all groups with a benchmark group. Values are shown in log form.
Values close to 0 mean relative mobility is constant across all groups. Negative values mean relative mobility is higher than in the benchmark group. The differences were statistically significant from 2019 onwards.
For data by disability status, respondents were asked if they had a health condition or illness lasting 12 months or more, and if that condition reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is consistent with the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010.
The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. These intervals show where we expect the true value from a population to be 95% of the time. For example, a confidence interval with the range of values from 5 to 10 implies that there is a 95% chance that the true population value is between 5 and 10, and a 5% chance that it is outside of this range. The narrower the confidence interval or range, the more precise the estimate. Read more about confidence intervals
Type of data
Survey data
Full report
State of the Nation 2024 does not include updates to this page.
Read more about mobility outcomes in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 14KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area type
- Area code
- Area name
- Time period
- Age
- Sex
- Category type
- Category
- Value
- Sample size
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Standard error
- Unit
Page history
Publication release date:
12 September 2023