Critical Business Inquiry Project (UMCD9W-40-3)1.1 Wage Returns to Education Numerous studies have suggested that there is a strong positive correlation between additional years of education undertaken and the average wage returns (see Card 1999, 2001, Kane et al 1999, Kirby and Riley 2008, Silles 2007 and Park 1996). However, more recent research in the UK has focused on returns linked to the type of qualification achieved (Croucher et al, 2006). It has been found that, in most cases, the wage returns of academic qualifications are higher than those of professional qualifications, while low-level professional qualifications bring poor returns (see Dearden et al, 2002 and Sianesi, 2003). Therefore suggesting that low level professional qualifications are not actually worth pursuing and that it is more beneficial to pursue an academic qualification instead. However, other studies have challenged the perception that low-level professional qualifications are useless. Dearden et al (2002) used data from the 1991 National Child Development Study and also the 1998 Labor Force Survey, and found that the gap between academic and professional qualifications narrowed somewhat when controlling for quantity of time needed to acquire a qualification. For example, professional courses generally take much less time to complete, therefore giving the worker a time advantage in the job market. Although this seems like a common sense finding, it is important because it has been overlooked in many previous studies, the which can cause subsequent errors. As new results on returns to the type of qualifications achieved are published, new policy implications are highlighted. A more recent study by Mcintosh (2006) also used the Labor Force Survey and its end... middle of paper... residence, quality child care and a better quality school (Blanden, 2004) . However, it is important to note that this is not the case for the entire population, as a child could live in a much lower income household and still get the same level of support and guidance from their parents. Having said this, however, in recent decades, although participation in high levels of education has increased for those who come from a more disadvantaged family background, the level of participation is still much lower than that of those who grew up in a stable context , higher than the annual average. family salary. Parental education has also been shown to have a positive effect on children's return to education, see (Oreopoulos et al 2003, Chevalier 2004, Black et al 2005 and Maurin and McNally 2008). All these studies aimed to find the causal impact of parental education on child outcomes.