United Kingdom

The UK's top jobs are dominated by the privately educated

A new report from the Sutton Trust and the Social Mobility Commission has revealed the dominance of people from a private education background in the UK's top jobs and professions. In total, 7 percent of the population attended independent schools, yet this is the case for 65 percent of senior judges. And, as an Old Etonian and a former Charterhouse head boy go head to head to become the next prime minister, it may be of little surprise that political positions are also disproportionately represented by this small section of society.

Commenting on the figures, Sir Peter Lampl, founder and executive chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: "Britain is an increasingly divided society. Divided by politics, by class, by geography. Social mobility, the potential for those to achieve success regardless of their background, remains low. As our report shows, the most influential people across sport, politics, the media, film and TV, are five times as likely to have attended a fee-paying school.”

Description

This chart shows the share of people in the UK in top professions/jobs that attended an independent school in 2019.

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