March 2010

IZA DP No. 4797: Social Mobility: Is There an Advantage in Being English in Scotland?

published as 'Migration, Occupational Mobility, and Regional Escalators in Scotland' in: [Urban Studies Research], 2012 (2012), Article ID 827171

This paper seeks to unpick the complex effects of migration, country of birth, and place of residence in Scotland on individual success in the labour market. We pay specific attention to the labour force experience of English-born residents in Scotland, whom the cross sectional literature suggests are more likely to achieve high occupational status than the Scottish born residents. Using data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study – linking individual records from the 1991 and 2001 Censuses – and logistic regressions we show that those living in, or moving to Edinburgh, and those born in England and Wales are the most likely to experience upward occupational mobility.