Socioeconomic Differences in the Transition From Higher Education to the Labour Market: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The transition from higher education to the labour market is considered an important and uncertain life stage wherein young adults exchange an academic environment for an often-chaotic entry into the labour market. Specifically, for graduates with a lower socioeconomic status (SES), this transition involves several difficulties. Investigating these persisting SES differences in the transition is becoming more relevant given the increasing participation of students from lower SES backgrounds in higher education. This systematic review studies SES differences in the transition by looking through the lens of resource acquisition. The results demonstrate that graduates from lower SES backgrounds have more difficulty finding suitable employment and often experience lower job quality. Moreover, our findings show that the strong interdependence between the importance of different forms of capital and the (implicit) symbolic value attached to these capitals makes it difficult for graduates from lower SES backgrounds to overcome barriers in the transition.