World Economic Forum focuses on social mobility
Weak social mobility is a global crisis, it was declared at Davos this week. While some nations are better than others in fostering social mobility, most are generally poor, the World Economic Forum (WEF) concluded.
And Britain is stuck in the mire of those countries where levelling up opportunity is badly needed.
Belgium, Slovenia, Ireland, Malta and the Czech Republic are all streets ahead of the UK in the WEF’s new Global Social Mobility Index.
So too are every Scandinavian country as well as Germany, France, Japan and Australia. In fact, the only G7 countries worse at enabling social mobility than Britain are the US and Italy.
We remain a nation where talent is spread evenly but opportunities are not, something I pointed out back in 2017 whilst Secretary of State for Education as I published the Department for Education’s Social Mobility Action Plan. Furthermore, even when opportunities do arise, people with the talent to grasp them, often can’t because of unscalable hurdles.
These obstacles are built on unfair bias, elitism, inflexibility and a general failure to recognise human capital and an individual’s potential in the context of the disadvantages or challenges they have faced.
Social Mobility Pledge research in the UK shows us that half of UK workers think regional accents make progress harder in their industry. The majority (65 per cent), meanwhile, believe “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” when applying for promotions and management positions within their industry.
Just over a third (34 per cent) of respondents say the leader at the very top of their employer is from a working-class background.
No country should run based on connections not competence. Against such concerning findings, the WEF’s new index may well help to turn up the heat on poorly performing nations like Britain.
But the pressure has to translate into action on the ground. Government interventions and the ‘levelling up’ mantra from Boris Johnson’s government in its early days could be crucial but it needs more than that for success.
I’ve always believed that businesses can be a real force for good in our country, especially when it comes to equality of opportunity. It was from roles in business that I got the opportunities that helped grow me as a person. Businesses are crucial to improving social mobility in Britain.
I founded the Social Mobility Pledge in 2018, to build a coalition of businesses to drive social mobility. It’s rapidly grown and in less than two years, is backed by organisations employing over three million people UK-wide. It commits them to embracing social mobility through simple but powerful steps - proven means, including closer ties with education providers, committing to work experience and apprenticeships and making sure recruitment practices are fair and don’t screen out talent before it’s even had the chance to walk through the door.
These businesses are the vanguard of those realising they need to step up on social mobility. It’s now time for a fresh wave of businesses to join our coalition of the willing - we need more to help us level up Britain.
Those that already have are proving the business case for such activities. They are getting ahead of their rivals by unearthing untapped talent overlooked by others, bringing more innovation and ideas into their organisations and building for future growth. For existing employees, more empowering companies are better places to work.
For businesses stepping up on social mobility, it creates a virtuous circle that everyone wins from. And at the same time, they are doing their bit to make Britain a nation with equality of opportunity for all. You don’t have to change the world, just change your own company. If everyone does that, then we transform our country.
Rt Hon Justine Greening
Founder of the Social Mobility Pledge
Former Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities, Secretary of State for International Development, Secretary of State for Transport, Economic Secretary to the Treasury