Beyond the Diploma: How Education and Work Shape Social Mobility
A new study by researchers from the HSE Centre for Skills Development and Vocational Education suggests that the reality is far more diverse. In their recent article, Anastasia Lukina, Vera Maltseva, and Natalia Rozenfeld explore how educational and career pathways shape graduates’ perceptions of social mobility, offering insights into inequality and life chances in contemporary higher education systems.
The study challenges the traditional view of graduate success as a linear sequence: completing university, entering full-time employment, and gradually climbing the career ladder. Instead, it demonstrates that modern graduates often combine study with work, change educational tracks, pursue additional degrees, or experience periods of unstable employment. These increasingly complex trajectories, the authors argue, play a crucial role in shaping how young people perceive their social progress.
The relationship between higher education and labor market has evolved, marked by a rise in students working while studying, which challenges the traditional education-work dichotomy.
Graduate success is still often understood as a linear sequence: finishing university, entering a stable job, and gradually moving up the career ladder. In reality, however, young people increasingly combine study with work, change educational tracks, interrupt their studies, or experience periods of unstable employment.
To capture this complexity, the researchers examined graduates’ pathways over a ten-year period, from 2011 to 2021. Using data from a nationally representative Russian longitudinal study TrEC*, they reconstructed individual sequences of education and employment and grouped them into distinct types of trajectories.
According to the authors, there is no single route that guarantees upward mobility. At the same time, some pathways are more strongly associated with positive outcomes. Graduates who combine extended education with early entry into professional employment are more likely to report a sense of having moved upward compared with their parents’ social position.
In contrast, pathways marked by prolonged periods outside employment or persistent mismatches between educational level and job requirements are associated with lower chances of perceived upward mobility. Graduates who feel that their qualifications are underused in the labor market are more likely to report stagnation or downward movement.
The fact that combining study and work is a key driver of mobility suggests that the integration of theoretical knowledge with practical experience is crucial.
The research also highlights that educational and career pathways are shaped by unequal starting conditions. Social background and cognitive skills significantly influence the trajectories graduates follow. Young people from more advantaged families are more likely to enter pathways that include prestigious universities, postgraduate education, and early professional employment. Higher cognitive ability is likewise associated with trajectories that offer better chances of upward mobility.
Graduates from more privileged backgrounds are not only more likely to enter extended linear pathways but also to celebrate greater mobility.
The researchers conclude that universities and policymakers should pay greater attention to how educational programmes are connected to the labor market, how students can combine study and work, and how graduates are supported during key transitions. Policies aimed at reducing qualification mismatches and helping students build relevant work experience during their studies may contribute to more positive social mobility outcomes.
Effective policy must therefore focus not only on expanding access to higher education but also on ensuring that all students, regardless of background, have the support to navigate successful and fulfilling pathways through education and into the workforce.
* https://trec.hse.ru/en/