Leicester expert comments on new report into Class Pay Gap

Dr Daniela Rudloff from the School of Business has commented on a new BBC Report on Social Mobility which found a class pay gap in a number of UK professions.

Dr Rudloff says: “Findings from the newly published Class Pay Gap report suggest that doctors, journalists and law professionals are amongst the professions which draw primarily from people with already privileged backgrounds.

“That journalism is becoming ever more inaccessible is not surprising; aspiring journalists often have to go through a string of unpaid internships to get their foot on the ladder. But those requisite unpaid internships are only available to the financially secure, preferably with parental support, thus driving the less fortunate (and well off) out of the profession. This should concern us because leaving journalism to the privileged carries the risk of leading to journalism for the privileged.

“Another shocking yet unsurprising statistic: The report states that ‘73% of doctors are from privileged backgrounds while less than 6% come from working-class backgrounds’ (p. 16). The report collected data from 2013 to 2015; long before Hunt started imposing the new contracts on junior doctors. If already only 6% of the doctors come from working-class contracts, what will even lower pay and even worse working conditions do to social mobility? How long until becoming a doctor becomes a privilege of the few who can afford what little pay the job brings?”

In a rare move for a Medical School, our University, in partnership with a local charitable trust, has launched a new Foundation Year course for its Medical degree programme aimed at increasing access to the medical professions from less-represented group.

In taking on the degree students will be given a direct route into the University’s innovative new medical curriculum that takes advantage of the cutting-edge new Centre for Medicine on campus.