Education and Intergenerational Mobility: An Analysis from the Perspective of Occupational Status

Abstract

The improvement of intergenerational occupational socioeconomic mobility is critical for achieving common prosperity. Education, as a key channel for human capital accumulation, has long been recognized as a major driver of upward individual mobility and a crucial mechanism for promoting social equality. However, despite significant advancements in educational development in China over recent decades, intergenerational mobility has not improved accordingly. Therefore, examining whether education effectively fosters intergenerational mobility and identifying the barriers that hinder this process are of great practical importance for promoting social equality and addressing class stratification in China.

Utilizing a mixed cross-sectional dataset from the China General Social Surveys (CGSS) of 2015, 2018, and 2021, this study employs occupational status indicators to provide a robust measure of workers’ long-term socioeconomic positions. By applying a two-stage regression approach, the study isolates individual educational attainment independent of family background and constructs interaction terms to examine the causal relationship between education and intergenerational mobility. The research findings reveal that:
(1) Increases in individual educational attainment simultaneously hinder intergenerational mobility in occupational status while elevating workers’ occupational status levels. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in exogenously acquired years of education raises the intergenerational correlation coefficient of occupational status by approximately 20.9%, suggesting that education does not facilitate intergenerational mobility effectively.
(2) The barriers preventing education from promoting intergenerational mobility stem from disparities in education quality and inefficiencies in the labor market. Individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds often access unequal educational resources, and the expansion of education amplifies the impact of these quality differences on occupational status, thereby strengthening intergenerational correlations. Additionally, in an unequal labor market, variations in social capital result in differential returns to education, further contributing to the inhibitory effect of education on intergenerational mobility.
(3) Heterogeneity analysis reveals that individuals whose parents were employed in the state-owned sector face stronger negative impacts on intergenerational mobility from education. Conversely, in eastern regions, the inhibitory effect of education on intergenerational mobility is relatively weaker, providing further evidence for the identified mechanisms.
(4) Enhancing regional educational attainment has a differential impact on intergenerational mobility. An increase in the average level of education within a region partially mitigates the inhibitory effects of individual education by improving intergenerational mobility in occupational status.

Based on these findings, this study recommends addressing the barriers to education’s role in promoting intergenerational mobility by ensuring more equitable development in educational quality, improving labor market efficiency, and reducing obstacles to regional labor mobility.

The potential contributions of this study are threefold:
First, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of education on intergenerational mobility through the lens of occupational status. It highlights changes in individuals’ socioeconomic positions and investigates potential barriers to education’s role in promoting intergenerational mobility, focusing on disparities in education quality and the dynamics of social capital within labor markets.
Second, this study employs a two-stage regression approach to address the endogeneity of individual education levels shaped by family background. By doing so, it achieves consistent estimates of education’s impact on intergenerational mobility and develops empirically robust strategies to mitigate the correlation between moderating variables and core explanatory variables.
Third, the study examines the heterogeneity of barriers that impede education’s promotion of intergenerational mobility across different regions and employment sectors. It also explores how improving regional educational attainment can help address individual barriers to intergenerational mobility, offering valuable insights for the formulation of education and labor policies aimed at achieving common prosperity.