It was predictable that the first annual report from the Social Mobility Commission under the leadership of Katharine Birbalsingh would present a rosier picture than critics of our deeply unequal society are accustomed to. Ministers appointed Ms Birbalsingh because they believe she is unlikely to make life difficult for them. Her brand of “can do” toughness is a good fit with a government that wants individual young people to do their best (who doesn’t?) but doesn’t want to be challenged on the corrosive effects of poverty, or opportunity hoarding by the well-off.
The argument presented in last week’s report is that doom-mongers have had too much airtime: occupational mobility has been steady for decades. Any recent decline is blamed on previous success – the massive late 20th-century expansion in professional jobs could not go on indefinitely. The report acknowledges that income mobility is on a different trajectory, with those born since the late 1970s facing decreased chances of changing their circumstances. It notes that the gap in earnings between women from professional and working-class backgrounds has widened since 2014, and allows that the impact of the pandemic is yet to be accounted for.
