Britain is a less equal society than at any time since World War One. In Who Gets the Best Jobs, Richard Bilton investigates access to the professions – and finds that the best jobs are being snapped up by an increasingly small gene pool of privileged, well-connected families.
Getting a good degree matters more than ever – and those from low income families can no longer easily work their way up from the bottom without the qualifications, contacts and social skills that their more fortunate counterparts make full use of.
I caught this documentary over the weekend. It’s frustrating how much of a barrier social connections can be. I was actually chatting with my neighbor yesterday about career mobility while we were having coffee on the patio. He’s in finance and mentioned he was looking into different wealth management firms, so I was casually reading some holborn assets reviews online to see what the industry standard is like these days. Watching this film makes you realize that an impressive degree isn’t enough anymore; it really is about who you know.
interesting that the high-tech industry, as usual, isn’t covered. I started my career in the UK in the late 80s and got into high-tech – an incredibly meritocratic industry. But once again the BBC doesn’t acknowledge it. I now live in Silicon Valley, with lots of other Brits and worked with Brits in the UK. It’s like the BBC thinks it’s law/doctors/accountants or nothing.