Socioeconomic Background

This describes the structural disadvantage that can arise from parents’ education, employment and income i.e. social class. Socioeconomic background is difficult to measure since relatively few surveys gather data on parental occupation or income.

Socio-economic background represents a mechanism by which disadvantage can persist across generations.

Available indicators include:

  • SIMD quintiles can give clues about socioeconomic background in the component scores for Employment, Education, Skills and Training and Housing.
  • Rurality can be an important measure to consider.

See links below for more details

CategoriesPossible indicatorsSources
Socioeconomic BackgroundSIMD for each data zone SIMD indicators combined and for each component indicator  
 RuralityScottish Gov. urban/rural classificationcation 2020 – gov.scot