Distal family factors
surveys such as the Labour Force Survey have been utilised to control for time variant
and time invariant individual heterogeneity that determines educational and economic
outcomes, such as motivation and affect the relationship between education and
income.
Returns to education have been calculated according to qualifications, vocational and
academic, as well as individual qualifications, for men and women and on different
sectors of the economy (Dearden et al., 2000; McIntosh, 2004). Returns to key
academic qualifications fluctuate between 16 to 26% and are similar for men and
women. Returns to main vocational qualifications have been higher for men than for
women; for the former between 14 and 10% and for the latter between 8 and 6%.
Focusing specifically on income poverty, low educational qualifications and low
educational test scores are powerful predictors of low earnings (Hobcraft, 1998)
(Hobcraft, 2000)). Even after controlling for educational success and family
background, individuals with the lowest qualifications are more likely to belong to the
lowest quartile of the household income distribution (Hobcraft, 2003).
Following research by the CEE we can conclude that the effect of education on
income is well known and substantial. Moreover, substantial analysis has been
undertaken to address the protective capacity of education in the avoidance of income
poverty.
5.5.3 Summary
Income is a very important determinant of child development, well theorised in the
literature, with good empirical evidence. The income returns to education are
similarly well established. We conclude that income is a very important mediator of
education effects, i.e. that there are substantial effects of parents’ education on child
development through the income benefits of education. Moreover, the stages in this
mediation process have been robustly estimated. However, few studies have modelled
or evaluated the full process as an education effect and more work on the interaction
of parents’ education and income would be of value.
5.6. Maternal employment
Maternal education has a strong link with maternal employment. In the last decades,
women’s educational attainments have improved together with opportunities in the
labour market. At the same time, the participation of mothers in the labour force has
been hypothesised to influence children’s developmental outcomes, in particular
cognitive ability and educational attainments. We review the evidence on the role of
maternal employment as a distal factor.
5.6.1 The effects of maternal employment and type of employment on
educational attainment
There are valid theoretical grounds for some potential negative effects of maternal
employment on child development. The basis for these negative effects arises mainly
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