4th April 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
According to a government-funded study carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), children who are good at Maths at a young age are likely to grow up to earn a more in the future. Although it is already widely known that how well children do at school, particularly their reading skills, is often linked to higher earnings later in life, researchers claim that there a link can now be perceived between early Maths ability and future pay.
The study found that children who were skilled at Maths at the age of 10 went on to earn 7% more at the age of 30 than another otherwise identical child. According to the research, Maths skills developed at a younger age continued to matter for earnings 20 or 30 years later. They even found that development of mathematical skill sets mattered more than reading ability and the higher education qualifications students go on to obtain.
The researchers stated that once other factors which can affect achievement in education and future earnings, there appeared to be a clear link between maths and pay. Although they confirmed that reading skills were also important, children who had the highest scores in reading only went on to earn 2% higher than those with middle-ranking scores suggesting that maths skills were more important.
Authors of the study did not know why these were the results but suggested that perhaps employers valued maths skills more than any other skill and so were prepared to reward them with higher wages. They stated that this emphasised the importance of investing in mathematical education from a younger age. This study comes as the government prepare to overhaul the current maths curriculum for primary schools while making it compulsory for teenagers to continue studying maths until they are 18 if they have not achieved a C grade or more at GCSE.