Reading as teenager gets you a better job

Teenagers who read for pleasure are much more likely to get a better job when they become adults, according to an in-depth and long-running sociological study.

by: Harry Wallop

Of all the free-time activities teenagers do, such as playing computer games, cooking, playing sports, going to the cinema or theatre, visiting a museum, hanging out with their girlfriend or boyfriend, reading is the only activity that appears to help them secure a good job.


This is one of the conclusions of an Oxford University study into 17,000 people all born in the same week in May 1970. They are now grown up and in their early 40s and the sociological study has tracked their progress through time.

At the age of 16, in 1986, they were asked which activities they did in their spare time for pleasure. These answers were then checked against the jobs they were doing at the age of 33, in 2003.

Mark Taylor, the researcher at Nuffield College, Oxford found that there was a 39 per cent probability that girls would be in professional or managerial posts at 33 if they had read books at 16, but only a 25 per cent chance if they had not. For boys the figures rose from 48 per cent to 58 per cent if they read books.

The results of the study are being presented at this week's British Sociological Association’s annual conference in London.

Playing with computer games – or at least the versions that were around in 1986 – harmed the children's prospects. Playing computer games regularly and doing no other activities meant their chances of going to university fell from 24 per cent to 19 per cent for boys and from 20 per cent to 14 per cent for girls.


Playing a musical instrument or playing team sports, activities that careers teachers often implore children to do so that it improves their CVs, were completely unconnected to whether they landed a good job or not.

He said: "Obviously reading is in itself a good thing. But we don't think that is the main reason why they ended up going to university and securing good jobs."

He explained that reading, and the chance it gives the child to sound eloquent and knowledgeable, is likely to have impressed interviewers when it came to landing a good job. However, curiously, reading at the age of 16 is not connected to actually being paid a better salary.

Mr Taylor explained that this was down to two possible explanations. At the age of 33, many highly desirable jobs such as being a doctor or architect have required many years of training and though the individuals will end up earning better money, the discrepancy is not apparent at this relatively young age.

He added: "And of course sounding knowledgeable in an interview does not mean that when you actually start working, you have the skills to do the job well and be promoted."

from: Telegraph