Dr Sangwoo Lee

Research interests

Sangwoo's current research primarily focuses on inequalities in higher education and the labour market, as well as job quality in the 21st century. Within this broad theme, he is particularly interested in a) how we can improve students' academic achievement and help them develop the skills they need in the labour market, regardless of their socioeconomic background, and b) the significance of job quality in shaping individual and societal outcomes, including:

• Inequalities in access to and success in higher education;
• Higher education and employment as vehicles for social mobility;
• Job quality premium for university graduates;
• Trends of job quality across countries;
• Relationship between job quality and well-being;
• Job quality polarisation and inequalities.

Sangwoo has particular methodological interests in:

• Longitudinal research and tracking (using mainly quantitative methods);
• Survey data analyses;
• Cross-cultural comparative analyses.

Academic profile

Sangwoo has a background in both Economics and Higher Education and has been trained at Grinnell College (US), Harvard University (US), and the University of Cambridge (UK). He joined IER in October 2023. Prior to this, he worked as a researcher at the UCL Institute of Education and the University of Cambridge.

Selected current projects

• Minimise costs and maximise benefits of job creation and job destruction (ISABEL); with CERTH, Gianni Anelli-Lopez, Derek Bosworth; Luke Bosworth and Rosie Day; Funded by the EU; Project duration: November 2024 - November 2027

• Managing Job quality and labour shortages with AI/AM in long-term care (MAIJobCare) with Trine Larsen, Phil Taylor, Beate Baldauf, Peter Dickinson and Stef Poole, Funded by JPI and ESRC. Project duration June 2025-May 2028.
• Creating a new State of the Labour Market Index (SLMi) for the UK; with Peter Elias, Chris Warhurst, Terence Hogarth, Trine Larsen, Katharina Sarter, Gill Dix and Ashwin Kumar; Funded by the Joseph Roundtree Foundation; Project duration: February 2025 - January 2026

• A Comparative Study on the Job Quality Premium for University Graduates; Funded by the University of Warwick, Project duration: April 2025 - March 2026

• Creating Healthy Jobs; with Chris Warhurst, Gill Dix, Katharina Sarter, Carla Toro & Jason Madan & Sophie Staniszewska, Mike Tildesley, Lena Al-Khudairy & Amy Grove, (University of Birmingham), Kevin Daniels (University of East Anglia), , Melanie Jones (Cardiff University), Funded by the National Institute for Health Research; Project duration October 2024 to September 2026
• SkillsPULSE - HORIZON-CL2-2023-TRANSFORMATIONS-01; with Terence Hogarth and Emily Erickson; Co-funded by EC via FGB; Project Duration: June 2024 - May 2027
• Supporting the business case for good jobs; with Emily Erickson and Chris Warhurst; Funded by the University of Warwick, Project duration: August 2024 - March 2025
• New challenges for occupational safety and health in times of the digital transformation in Europe: the role of digital labour platforms, with Trine Larsen, Chris Warhurst, Beate Baldauf, Jamelia Harris and Katharina Sarter and Stef Poole, Funded by CHANSE; Project duration: 2022 - 2025
• Social Mobility/Immobility and Graduates' Skills: Future Track Survey, with Kate Purcell
• LMI for All, 2018-2024;Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window With Sally-Anne Barnes, Jenny Bimrose, Rob Wilson, David Owen, Terence Hogarth, Daria Luchinskaya, Luke Bosworth and Rosie Day from IER, and Pontydysgu. Funded by the Department for Education. Project duration 2018 - 2024

• 'Bad Jobs' in Europe: Derivation and Analysis of a Wellbeing-Related Job Quality Threshold, with Francis Green; Funded by the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis
• Job Quality in South Korea: Progress or Decline? With Francis Green, Funded by the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis

All projectsLink opens in a new window

Selected Publications

• Hogarth, T., Breines, M., Erickson, E., Hefler, G., Lee, S., Nyen, T., Pittrof, T., Steinheimer, E., and Unterweger, D. (2025). The Funding of VET in Austria, Norway and England. Skills2Capabilities Working Paper.
• Hogarth, T., Breines, M., Erickson, E., Hefler, G., Lee, S., Nyen, T., Pittrof, T., Steinheimer, E. and Unterweger, D. (2025). The Funding of VET in Austria, Norway and England. Research Poster at Skills2Capabilities Conference (Maastricht).
• Hogarth, T., Erickson, E., Lee, S., Breines, M., Nyen, T., Hefler, G., Pittrof, T., Steinheimer, E., Unterweger, D. (2025) VET Funding in Austria, Norway and England. Research Poster at Skills2Capabilities Conference (Maastricht).
• Hartmann, E., and Lee, S. (2026). Exporting status differences? The stratification of British transnational higher education Globalisation, Societies, and Education Location and Publish.
• Lee, S., and Burga Idrogo, C. (2025). Beyond earnings: the multidimensional job quality premiums for university graduates in European labour markets. Studies in Higher Education
• Lee, S. & Green, F. (2025). Bad Jobs in South Korea: Wellbeing-Based Approach.The Economic and Labour Relations Review.
• Lee, S. & Green, F. (2025). Job Quality in South Korea: Progress or Decline? International Labour Review.

• McGuiness, S., Staffa, E., Lee, S., Kelly, L., & Redmond, P. (2025). Developing a New European Indicator of Potential Skill Shortages.Link opens in a new window (IZA Discussion Paper No. 18133). IZA – Institute of Labor Economics.

• Green, F., & Lee, S. (2024). Bad Jobs in Europe: Derivation and Analysis of a Wellbeing-Related Job Quality Threshold.Link opens in a new window Applied Research Quality Life.
• Yong, A. & Lee, S. (2024). The socioeconomic gap in the development of Korean adolescents occupational aspirations while approaching the post-secondary transition. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance.
• Green, F., Lee, S., Zou, M., & Zhou, Y. (2024). Work and life: The relative importance of job quality for general well-being, and implications for social surveysLink opens in a new window. Socio-Economic Review.
• Lee, S. (2023). Does the university level the playing field? Impacts of spatial inequalities on the gap in the earnings of similar graduates: Evidence from the United KingdomLink opens in a new window, Higher Education Policy
• Lee, S. & Vignoles, A. (2022). Does college level the playing field? Socioeconomic gaps in the earnings of similar graduates: Evidence from South KoreaLink opens in a new window. Higher Education, 83, 1335-1354.
• Lee, S. (2022). A social ladder or a glass floor? The role of higher education in intergenerational social mobility: Empirical evidence from South Korea.Link opens in a new window Higher Education Policy, 35, 969-998.
• Lee, S. & Song, M. (2018). The socioeconomic ceiling and perceived employability in higher education.Link opens in a new window Korean Journal of Youth Studies, 25(11). 231-258.

Selected Conference Presentations

• "'Bad Jobs' in Europe: Derivation and Analysis of a Wellbeing-Related Job Quality Threshold"Link opens in a new window at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, Well-being Seminar (2024).
• "Job Quality Premium: Trend Changes in Job Quality in South Korea"Link opens in a new window at the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE) Seminar (2024).
• "Unequal Labour Market: Job Quality Premium for Graduates and Its Trend in South Korea" at the Korea Inequality Symposium (2023).
• "The Comparative Importance of Job Quality for General Well-being" at the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (2023).
• "Work and Life: The Comparative Importance of Job Quality for General Well-being" at the CIPD Applied Research Conference (2023).
• "Does University Level the Playing Field? Impacts of Spatial Inequalities on the Gap in the Earnings of Similar Graduates: Evidence from the UK" at the Society for Research into Higher Education (2021).
• "The Socioeconomic Ceiling and Perceived Employability in Higher Education: Evidence from South Korea" at the American Economic Association Annual Meeting (2018).

Teaching

• Education for Employment? Understanding Learning in the 21st Century Economy (Guest Lecturer, UCL Institute of Education, 2023-2025)
• Methods of Enquiry II (SPSS Session Lecturer, UCL Institute of Education, 2023)
• Social Inequality and Mobility (Seminar Leader, UCL Institute of Education, 2022)
• Economics of Education (Seminar Leader, UCL Institute of Education, 2022)
• Designing Education Research: Quantitative Course Work (Undergraduate Supervisor, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, 2021)
• Research Methods Strand for MPhil (Teaching Assistant, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, 2021)

Professional memberships

• Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA)
• European Associations of Labour Economists (EALE)
• American Economic Association (AEA)
• British Educational Research Association (BERA)
• Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)
• American Education Research Association (AERA)