Abstract

Recent contributions in the field of human capital have pointed out the role played by parental background as an element of intergenerational transmission of it. Both parental human capital and job qualification affect offspring educational choice hence job performance. Aim of this paper is to analyse empirically this type of interaction. Observed variables measuring parental background and individual schooling explain both individual labour income and professional qualification through three latent variables representing family features, total human capital and job market performance. Results show that there exists a statistically significative influence of parental background on individual investment in schooling and from it to job market performance; this concludes for an intergenerational transmission of human capital and income, hence for a persistence in income and schooling inequality.