【Social mobility study released】/ TAIPEI TIMES

EDUCATIONAL ANALYSIS:A participant whose father has a college degree is twice as likely to have a master’s degree as one whose father does not, the study discovered

By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Science and Technology yesterday announced the preliminary results of a study that has followed about 55,000 junior-high school students since 2001, which it said reveals information about the relationships between class mobility, education levels, gender, employment, social connections and generational differences.

The study comprised an analysis of interviews with 3,977 respondents about their educational attainment and socioeconomic status, which were conducted in 2010 when they were aged between 25 and 26, National Chengchi University sociology professor Kuan Ping-yin (關秉寅) said.

The study found that a participant whose father had a college degree or above was twice as likely to have a master’s degree as a respondent whose father did not have a college degree, while respondents whose father has a degree from a vocational school are twice as likely to attend a vocational school-turned-university as respondents whose father has a college degree, which suggests that social class is being passed from one generation to the next, Kuan said.

Respondents from wealthier families are more likely not to be in education or employment, with 18 percent of respondents from families with a combined monthly income of more than NT$100,000 unemployed, compared with 16 percent of respondents with a combined family income of less than NT$20,000 per month, Kuan said.

Nearly 75 percent of female respondents have a college degree, and about 60 percent of male respondents. However, about 22 percent of male respondents have a master’s degree, compared with 15 percent of female respondents.

Men had higher salaries than women who have equivalent levels of education, as male respondents with a master’s degree earned NT$47,000 a month, while female respondents with a master’s degree earned only NT$38,000; the average salaries for men and women with a college degree were NT$32,000 and NT$30,000 respectively.

The average salary of respondents was NT$28,000, while 25 percent earned NT$35,000 or more and 16 percent received NT$22,000 or less.

Women are more likely to challenge gender stereotypes, with 79 percent of female respondents disagreeing with the statement that being a housewife is more meaningful than working, compared with 60 percent of male respondents.

Of the female respondents, 58 percent believe that a married couple does not need to have a child, compared with 49 percent of the male respondents.

Of respondents with a college degree, 53.5 percent said they could apply what they learned at school in their job, compared with 50.8 percent of respondents with a degree from a vocational school-turned-university, Kuan said, adding that it could be due to the incomplete reorientation of former vocational schools.

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新聞取自：http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/11/19/2003632833 （取用日期：2015/11/19）