IF you were jealous of the most popular boy or girl in your class, you were right to be so . Researchers have found that the more friends a child has at school, the more earning power they will enjoy later in life.

A study by Essex University indicates that for each extra friend a pupil had at school, their salary 35 years later was 2% higher. The research adds to growing evidencethatsocial skills - and not simply academic prowess - are vital to success later on in life.

“A workplace is a social setting. People have to manage each other and work in teams - you can see why social skills would be helpful”, said Professor Steve Pudney, of the university’s Institute for Social and Economic Research, who carried out the research.

Pudney used data from America in which groups of schoolboys were asked to name their three closest friends. The number of nominations received by each pupil was added up.

The boys were interviewed at regular intervals between 1957 and 2004 to measure their earnings and relate the figures to the number of friends. Other factors such as intelligence and family income were also taken into account.

Pudney accepts that intelligence and length of education have more impact on earning power than social skills. Previous research has shown that each extra year of education later raises earnings by 5%.

Alki David, an entrepreneur whose fortune is calculated at £1.5 billion in The Sunday Times Rich List, said he had kept a lot of friends from his schooldays and that those friendships were the basis for his success later on in life.

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