Graduate premium 'no matter what you study'

By Ian Walker. Research published yesterday shows that graduate earnings continue to exceed average non-graduate earnings whatever your degree, says economist Professor Ian Walker. The message from our research into the 'graduate premium' – published yesterday by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – is simple: it's all good news for anyone willing to study hard. On average, if you complete a degree of any kind you're going to see a substantial return on your 'investment'.
Not only is it the case that average graduate earnings continue to exceed average non-graduate earnings (despite the dramatic recent rise in higher education participation), but also the riskiness in graduate earnings continues to be less than that of non-graduates. So called STEM subjects and business related degrees continue to be the best bets – partly reflecting the importance of quantitative skills across the market. But all subjects show a healthy return. Moreover, despite the rise in tuition fees the average return remains huge. Indeed, the tweaks to the loan system have been designed to favour those that do badly in the labour market. More...