Youth Social Mobility in Colombia: Education and Labor Market Analysis

This study examines the evolution of youth social mobility in Colombia and how education and the labor market have influenced intergenerational mobility, focusing on identifying trends and factors that affect the upward or downward trajectory of youth in terms of education and income. Using data from the Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares (GEIH) for the third quarter of 2023, young people between the ages of 15 and 28 were analyzed. To assess mobility, diagonal reference models (DRM) were used to analyze the combined effects of parental and individual education on labor income, occupational choice, and labor informality. The results reveal that although 50.26% of young people have improved their educational level compared to their parents, only 21.3% have experienced upward mobility in terms of income. Additionally, parental education significantly influences young people's occupational choices, with 35.6% of this relationship explained by parental education. Social capital also plays a crucial role in social mobility, facilitating or limiting occupational and educational opportunities. These findings indicate that educational improvements do not always translate directly into economic improvements, suggesting the need for comprehensive policies that address both educational disparities and structural barriers in the labor market. This study offers a comprehensive perspective on youth social mobility in Colombia, highlighting the complex interaction between education, the labor market, and socioeconomic background. The originality of this research is the use of diagonal reference models to the Colombian context, allowing to advance in the understanding of the intergenerational dynamics of social mobility, an approach little explored in the existing literatura.