Firsts among equals? Evidence on the contemporary relationship between educational credentials and the occupational structure

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Abstract
This article focuses on the relationship between credentials and the occupational structure, drawing on quantitative research data from a study of UK graduates with first‐class honours degrees. Within a knowledge‐driven economy, in the UK it is commonly assumed that university graduates with the highest credentials will receive the best employment opportunities and be better rewarded in the labour market, regardless of characteristics such as gender or educational biography. The data are used to evaluate such assumptions. While graduates with firsts are to some extent shown to be at a positional advantage within the labour market, when their outcomes are compared to those with 2.2 degrees, the article also highlights a significant degree of variation among the labour market outcomes of those with firsts. In particular, there are important gender differences among those with firsts which cannot be explained by the credential alone.

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