Is London really the engine room? Migration, opportunity hoarding and regional social mobility in the UK

In their article Friedman and Macmillan explore for the first time regional differences in the patterning of occupational social mobility in the UK, examining how rates vary across 19 regions of England, Scotland and Wales. Their findings cast doubts on the dominant policy narrative on regional social mobility, which presents London as the national ‘engine-room’ of social mobility, revealing that those currently living in Inner London have experienced the lowest regional rate of absolute upward mobility, the highest regional rate of downward mobility, and a comparatively low rate of relative upward mobility into professional and managerial occupations.