COVID and Work and Education Inequalities in UK – Those aged 16-25 were over twice as likely as older employees to have suffered job loss

The purpose of this brief paper is to present initial findings from the recently collected LSE-CEP Social Mobility survey, which was undertaken as part of our UKRI project ‘Generation COVID and Social Mobility: Evidence and Policy’. These are the first results from a project that is producing a detailed assessment of COVID-19’s impact on education and economic inequalities and offering an assessment for the longer term consequences for social mobility in the UK.

Summary

• Initial findings are reported from the first LSE-CEP Social Mobility Survey that was undertaken in September and October of 2020, with a particular focus placed on work and education inequalities of the (age 16-25) COVID generation. We report new, up to date findings on the labour market, on adults in full-time education and on school age pupils.
• Generation COVID has experienced worse labour market outcomes in terms of job loss, not working and earnings losses during and after lockdown. Those aged 16-25 were over twice as likely as older employees to have suffered job loss, with over one in ten losing their job, and just under six in ten seeing their earnings fall. Labour market losses are more pronounced for women, the self-employed and those who grew up in a poor family.
• University students from the lowest income backgrounds lost 52 percent of their normal teaching hours as a result of lockdown, but those from the highest income groups suffered a smaller loss of 40 percent, revealing a strong inequality occurring in higher education. Female students were far more likely than males to report that the pandemic had adversely affected their wellbeing.
• During lockdown, nearly three quarters (74 percent) of private school pupils were benefitting from full school days – nearly twice the proportion of state school pupils (38 percent). A quarter of pupils had no schooling or tutoring during lockdown. Overall just under four in ten pupils benefitted from full schooling during full school closures due to lockdown; by early October 2020 six in ten pupils were benefitting from full schooling.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ Generation COVID: emerging work and education inequalities