James Caan, social mobility and the job market

Nigel Williams, 6 June 2013

James Caan may be wondering why he ever accepted the title of Social Mobility Tsar. Tsars are not renowned for promoting social mobility. Opera fans will recall Boris Godunov’s strenuous and desperate efforts to thwart the pretender Dmitri’s efforts at social mobility. More appropriate but just as unfortunate might be Alexander II. Four years before American slavery was outlawed, Alexander emancipated Russian serfs. Given the right to vote, to move and to buy land, serfs borrowed the money to do so from the state and from their landlords. In many cases they died still in debt and bequeathed the mortgages to their children. The landowners still demanded ample compensation for parting with land and some groups remained dissatisfied. Alexander survived his first two assassination attempts, but not the third.

Whereas increasing prosperity brings benefits all round, social mobility without added prosperity has a downside. People must move down to make way for every upwardly mobile person. If James Caan is suggesting that parents should not seek out job opportunities for their children, it is an admission that social mobility requires losers. For greater depth, see Professor Peter Saunders classic treatment of the issues around Social Mobility in Social Mobility Myths.

The consequences of helping offspring into work are not wholly damaging. ‘Who(m) you know’ also entails ‘who knows you’, so the employer is taking less of a risk in offering a job. The difficulties associated with hiring the wrong person can put many one-person businesses off from ever taking on that second employee. In a family-owned firm, offering a job is more constructive than keeping the child dependent, since, unless solely done to avoid tax, it demands some work in return. It is potentially more serious if the job is being funded with other people’s money. That is when the scrutiny is required.

“Ask family, friends and people I have worked with before”

 These words form part of the jobseeker’s agreement for a large proportion of the 1½ million current claimants, agreed with their local Job Centre. It does not help those people if any encouragement or assistance is decried as nepotism. Being back in work will give them the chance to show they can do a job well. Moreover it positions them better to find a job that better matches their skills. Asking family to help is a reasonable expectation for people getting into the labour market. It might be kinder to judge James Caan by his actions more than by his words.