CEPEO Seminar Series - Claire Crawford

This paper investigates the long-term impact of childhood economic disadvantage on educational trajectories and labour market outcomes. We construct a novel measure of disadvantage for use in administrative data lacking household income, leveraging Free School Meals (FSM) eligibility and local area characteristics throughout compulsory schooling. Using census data on all individuals attending state schools in England, we document very large differences in earnings at age 25 between those from different socio-economic backgrounds, with those living in the most advantaged neighbourhoods throughout compulsory schooling earning around 50% (£9,000) more, on average, per year than those eligible for FSM in all school years. Much, but not all, of this gap can be explained by accounting for standard mediating factors, including the level and type of post-compulsory educational qualifications and early labour market histories.