Equal work, equal pay? Children’s understanding of work and pay, and key workers

Income inequality is a significant problem in the UK. Research conducted 40 years ago tells us that it is not until children reach 8 years of age that they accept income inequality – that is they believe that people should earn different amounts of pay for different status occupations. Dr Lindsey Cameron and her team want to explore whether this is still the case. We are particularly interested in children’s ideas about key workers, given their prominence in the current pandemic.

In this project, we want to explore what children think about different occupations, how much they think they should earn, and particularly looking at children’s understanding of key worker occupations.

What will this involve? Children will take part in a short interview, with a trained researcher, who will talk them through a short survey, asking about different occupations, how much they get paid, and exploring the issue of key workers. The interview will be audio recorded.

What will you need? Just your laptop, with microphone on.

How long will it take? Approximately 30 minutes.

What data will be collected? Our research team will note down children’s answers as they are interviewed, and will also cross-reference with the audio-recording to ensure every answer is accurately noted down.

Age range: 6-12 years.

When will this study start? January 2021.

Get involved: If you have a typically-developing 6 to 12-year old child and are interested, please email Isabel at child@kent.ac.uk with the email header ‘Equal pay study’ and we will send more detailed information