Private school graduates more likely to get top jobs than those educated at state schools

Graduates who went to a private school are one-third more likely to get top jobs than those educated at a state school, according to new research.

The Government’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission found that many major employers still recruit from a narrow range of highly selective universities, where those who went to independent schools tend to be over-represented. Even where two similarly qualified graduates attended the same university and got the same degree, a privately schooled graduate is 8 per cent more likely to get a top job than a state-schooled one.

Alan Milburn, the commission’s chairman, said: “We need to break open the closed shop at the top of British society and expand the middle. It should be our country’s ambition to create a bigger middle class with more avenues for advancement. A growing middle-class is the foundation for a more mobile country.”