A Study of the Influence of Education on Social Mobility

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the inter-generational transmission of socioeconomic status and the influence of education on social mobility in Korea using Korea Welfare Panel Survey data(first wave). Especially this study focuses on how son's schooling and father's socio-economic status separately and interweavingly influence on son's economic achievement. The result of correspondence analysis and path analysis is summarized as such: Firstly, in the result of correspondence analysis, the inter-generational transmission in both ends of socio-economic status is salient. In more detail, very rich, professional, high educated sons have a strong possibility to have high socio-economic background(parents) and the other ends are the contrary. Secondly, the influence of father's socio-economic status on son's achievement is not so much indirect as direct. In other words, Socio-economic background influences on one's economic achievement by way of one's school career. Thirdly, investigating by cohort, the direct effect of socio-economic background is the lowest in 40s and the highest in 20s~30s. Based on these findings, this study suggests that the socio-economic status is handed down from father to son especially by way of schooling.