Updated 04 February 2013
Proportion of the lowest earning 25-30 year olds that experience wage progression ten years later
Indicator description
This indicator measures the proportion of individuals in the bottom fifth of earners at age 25-30 that are twenty or more percentiles higher in the earnings distribution ten years later.
The Social Mobility Strategy committed DWP to developing an indicator of wage progression, whilst acknowledging that other indicators of labour market success will also form part of a wider suite of indicators of social mobility in adulthood.
Latest data (published February 2013)
An initial cohort is formed including all individuals that are aged 25-30 and have positive earnings in the chosen start year. An earnings distribution is determined for this cohort, and the bottom quintile become the group of interest. For this initial bottom quintile there are three possible outcomes ten years later:
- move up the earnings distribution by twenty or more percentiles;
- move along the earnings distribution by less than plus 20 percentiles (includes non-movers and moves down the distribution); and
- “evidence indeterminate”, ie drop out of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) sample (for example, due to a switch to self-employment, temporary or longer-term unemployment or inactivity, migration or death).
The latest data shows that 12. 1% of 25-30 year olds in the bottom fifth of earners in 2003 had experienced wage progression by 2012.
The change in the proportion of lowest earners that experienced wage progression between 2002- 2011 and 2003- 2012 was not statistically significant , nor has there been any statistically significant change since the first measurement period (2000-2009).
| Period | Percentage of those moving up the earnings distribution by 20 or more percentiles |
|---|---|
| 2000-2009 | 12.4% |
| 2001-2010 | 12.5% |
| 2002-2011 | 11.7% |
| 2003-2012 | 12.1% |
