Career Progression: Getting-on, Getting-by and Going Nowhere

This research examines the 'career progression' of individuals by studying how an individual's ranking within their cohort changes over their lifetime. We compare the relative position of individuals using educational test scores at ages 11 and 16 and earnings at ages 33 and 42. Our goal is to establish the contribution of early ability, educational achievement and labour market experience to the relative movements of individuals within their cohort. We use the National Child Development Study to assess this intra-cohort career progress employing descriptive and fixed effect regression methods to describe the process. We report how career progression differs for men and women.