Graduate labour market statistics is an annual publication which presents labour market conditions for graduates, postgraduates, and non-graduates living in England. The data is available from 2007 to 2023.
Data is presented by graduate type on:
Data is used from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey to produce these statistics. ONS have faced challenges around the falling number of responses to the LFS, which has led to increased sampling variability.
This increase in the volatility in the estimates of employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity led to ONS suspending the usual suite of LFS-based labour market statistics from October 2023 through to January 2024. Further improvements were implemented to tackle some of these challenges, including a review of the LFS weighting approach. Data has been reweighted from July 2022 onwards which has led to slight changes in the GLMS 2023 back series for 2022 estimates, and comparisons of levels prior to this period should be viewed with caution. Full details of the reweighting can be found here: Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab).
ONS expect to see improvements to response levels and rates due to the reintroduction of face-to-face interviews and a sample boost in October 2023 and January 2024, respectively. However, as these improvements will take time to materialise in the LFS data, LFS statistics will be badged as "official statistics in development" until further review.
Increase of 0.4 percentage points from 2022
Who is included?Graduates aged 16-64 (working age population), domiciled in England. Postgraduates are excluded from this analysis.
Increase of 0.7 percentage points from 2022
Who is included?Graduates aged 16-64 (working age), domiciled in England, in a job categorised within the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) codes 1-3. Postgraduates are excluded from this analysis.
Increase of £1,500 from 2022
How is this calculated?Graduates aged 16-64 (working age), domiciled in England. Postgraduates are excluded from this analysis.
This is the nominal salary and has not been adjusted for inflation.
Decrease of £500 from 2022
How is this calculated?Graduates aged 16-64 (working age), domiciled in England. Postgraduates are excluded from this analysis.
Real-term salaries are calculated using quarterly deflators of the May 2023 edition of ONS Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH). Base 100 is set at calendar year 2007 where working age graduates' median salary was £30,000.
Decrease of £1,500 from 2022
How is this calculated?Graduates aged 16-64 (working age), domiciled in England. Postgraduates are excluded from this analysis. The graduate premium is the difference in median salaries of graduates compared to non-graduates. Real-term salaries are calculated using quarterly deflators of the May 2023 edition of ONS Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH). Base 100 is set at calendar year 2007.
Decrease of £500 from 2022
How is this calculated?Graduates aged 16-64 (working age), domiciled in England. Postgraduates are excluded from this analysis. The graduate gender salary gap is the difference in median salaries of males compared to females. Real-term salaries are calculated using quarterly deflators of the May 2023 edition of ONS Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH). Base 100 is set at calendar year 2007.
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This publication presents a time series of graduates, postgraduates, and non-graduates' employment and salaries living in England from 2007 to 2023.
For information on data processing and data quality of these statistics, please see the methodology note.
The Department for Education (DfE) and other bodies have previously published research on the absolute, and lifetime returns to undergraduate degrees. For more detailed econometric analysis of the earnings and employment differentials between graduates and non-graduates, please see the links below:
The DfE also publish other statistics on graduate employment and earnings; LEO graduate and postgraduate outcomes.
Statistics presented in this publication use data from the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS). ONS have faced challenges around the falling number of responses to the LFS which has led to increased sampling variability.
ONS expect to see improvements to response levels and rates due the reintroduction of face-to-face interviews and a sample boost in October 2023 and January 2024, respectively. However, as these improvements will take time to materialise in the LFS data, LFS statistics will be badged as "official statistics in development" until further review.
As the results presented in these publications are based on survey data, they represent estimates. Individual estimates may be inaccurate reflections of the true population, and differences between estimates may not be statistically significant.
In this publication, graduate type is defined as follows:
All earnings data in this publication are calculated for full-time workers only and are rounded to the nearest £500. Difference between groups (such as the graduate premium) are calculated from unrounded data.
Information on part-time employment patterns for graduates and non-graduates are also included. For these groups, part-time workers’ employment outcomes are broken down by age group and gender.
Please note there have been methodological changes for the 2023 publication, including amendments to the classification of graduate type and categorising Chinese ethnicity as ‘Asian or Asian British’ as opposed to previously grouping in ‘Other ethnic group’ (see methodology note for more details).
The employment and earnings outcomes for 2020 and 2021 should be viewed against the backdrop of the significant adverse shock to the UK macroeconomy due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which severely disrupted business activity in many sectors of the UK economy.
This publication only provides simple outcome measures based on survey data and does not control for the differences in characteristics between graduates, postgraduates, and non-graduates. This means that the outcomes reported may not be wholly attributable to the fact that an individual holds a particular qualification, but instead could reflect other factors, such as their skills, experience, or geographic location.
In 2023, graduates and postgraduates in the working age population had broadly similar employment, unemployment, and inactivity rates. Postgraduates saw slightly better outcomes across all metrics.
Employment outcomes for non-graduates were considerably worse compared to graduates and postgraduates across all three metrics. The unemployment rate was:
In addition, over one in four non-graduates (27.6%) were economically inactive in 2023, compared to 9.6% of graduates and 8.7% of postgraduates.
In 2023, among the young population there is more disparity in the employment rates of postgraduates (90.8%) and graduates (87.4%) compared to the working age population, with a 3.4 percentage point gap.
Inactivity rates overall are lower for the young population compared to the working age population, with non-graduates seeing the largest difference in inactivity rates (5.3 percentage points). However, the inactivity rates for non-graduates within the young population was still far greater than graduates and postgraduates:
Unemployment rates are higher across all groups in the young population compared to the working age population, with graduates seeing the largest difference in unemployment rates across the two groups (2.5 percentage points differential). There are many reasons why unemployment rates for young graduates and postgraduates are higher than working age, one explanation could be initial difficulty in entering the job market.
In 2023, the high-skilled employment rate within the working age population is highest for postgraduates at 78.9%. This is 11.9 percentage points higher than graduates at 67.0% and 55.2 percentage points higher than non-graduates at 23.7%.
Non-graduates are most likely to be in medium/ low-skilled employment at 51.2%.
Similarly to the working age population, young postgraduates had the greatest high-skilled employment rate at 76.4% in 2023. In addition, 60.4% of young graduates were in high-skilled employment compared to 20.7% of non-graduates.
In 2023, high-skilled employment rates are higher across all groups in the working age population compared to the young population. There was a 6.5 percentage points difference between working age graduates compared to the young population.
There was a smaller difference of 2.9 percentage points when comparing the high-skilled employment rates of non-graduates. This could be due to skills or further qualifications workers accrue throughout their careers which progress them into higher-skilled jobs as they get older.
In 2023, nominal median salaries were highest among the working age population (16-64 years old), with postgraduates seeing the greatest average earnings at £45,000. This is £10,000 higher than young postgraduates (21-30 years old) at £35,000.
Whereas non-graduates saw a difference of £3,500 between the young and the working age populations in nominal terms. This suggests that earnings growth is more pronounced later in working life, and people with higher levels of education can expect the most growth.
In real terms, working age postgraduates have the highest earnings at £29,000 which is a £10,000 premium on non-graduates at £19,000. The gap between non-graduates and postgraduates among the young population is £6,000.
Similarly to nominal salaries, postgraduates can expect the greatest increase in median salary throughout their working life in real terms. The difference in the average real earnings among the young and the working age populations for the graduate types were:
In 2023, the employment rate increased for working age (16-64 years old) postgraduates and graduates by 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points respectively. However it fell for working age non-graduates by 0.6 percentage points.
For the young population (21-30 years old), the employment rates for postgraduates increased by 2.1 percentage points in 2023, though it fell for both graduates and non-graduates by 0.8 and 2.0 percentage points respectively.
The unemployment rates increased for all working age and young population groups, though they fell for young postgraduates by 1.2 percentage points to 3.0% in 2023.
The biggest difference was seen in the unemployment rate of young non-graduates, where the rate increased by 1.3 percentage points from 5.7% in 2022 to 7.1% in 2023.
Working age population (16-64 year olds)
In 2023, employment rates for working age graduates continued to rise, equalling the highest graduate employment rate in the time series. Increasing to 87.7%, by 0.4 percentage points compared to 2022. This follows a period of sustained growth between 2009 and 2018, also peaking at 87.7%, but dipped in 2019 and 2020. The latest data for 2023 shows that the working age graduate employment rate has recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
The working age postgraduate employment rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 89.4% in 2023 compared to 2022, the highest employment rate in the time series.
The employment rate for working age non-graduates fell in 2023 by 0.6 percentage points to 68.7%. This follows annual decline since 2019, showing that working age non-graduates' employment rates are yet to recover to post-pandemic levels.
In 2023, employment rates fell for both young graduates and non-graduates by 0.8 and 2.0 percentage points to 87.4% and 72.2%, respectively.
The young postgraduate employment rate increased by 2.1 percentage points to 90.8% which is the highest rate since the start of the series in 2007. It had previously peaked at 90.6% in 2016 before it fell in 2017 and 2018.
Working age population (16-64 year olds)
The likelihood of being in high-skilled employment grows as the level of education increases. In 2023, 23.7% of working age non-graduates were in high-skilled employment, reaching its highest level in the time series. However, this compares to 67.0% for graduates and 78.9% for postgraduates.
The difference between working age graduate and postgraduate employment rates was 1.7 percentage points. This was greater between high-skilled employment rates, which was 11.9 percentage points higher for postgraduates than graduates. Similarly, the gap between the high-skilled employment rate for graduates and non-graduates is much higher than the overall employment rate gap (43.3% compared to 19.0% respectively).
Young population (21-30 year olds)
Between 2007 and 2023, high-skilled employment rates have fluctuated more for the young population than the working age.
The high-skilled employment rate for young non-graduates fell by 0.3 percentage points to 20.7% compared to 2022, though it has surpassed 2007 levels (20.0%).
Young postgraduates were most likely to be in high-skilled employment at 76.4% compared to the other groups and levels of high-skilled employment are now like pre-pandemic levels (2019).
For young graduates, high-skilled employment was 1.3 percentage points lower in 2023 (60.4%) compared to 2022 (61.7%). However, the rate is higher than in 2019 (58.1%) and in 2007 (60.1%).
Working age population (16-64 year olds)
The unemployment rate increased across all groups in the working age population in 2023. Since 2007, the working age postgraduate unemployment rate has remained persistently below graduates. In 2023, the unemployment rate was 2.1% for postgraduates compared to 3.0% for graduates.
The unemployment rate was highest for working age non-graduates and increased from 4.9% to 5.1% between 2022 and 2023. The unemployment rate fell annually between 2011 and 2019, before increasing in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic.
In 2023, young graduates had higher unemployment rates than those of working age. The gap in unemployment rates between working age non-graduates and young non-graduates was 2.0 percentage points, suggesting that obtaining a degree leads to more secure employment. This gap was higher for graduates at 2.5 percentage points, and 0.9 percentage points higher for postgraduates.
For the young population, the postgraduate unemployment rate fell in 2023 to 3.0% from 4.2% in 2022. However, unemployment rates for young graduates and non-graduates increased year on year to 5.5% and 7.1% respectively. For both groups these rates are below their 2012 peaks; 7.1% for graduates and 13.1% for non-graduates.
Working age population (16-64 year olds)
In 2023, for working age graduates, the inactivity rate fell to 9.6%, the lowest rate of the time series for this group. However, this is still above the postgraduate group at 8.7%.
Inactivity rates are highest in the working age population in 2023 for non-graduates at 27.6%, which has been increasing since 2019. The annual increases in the inactivity rate for working age non-graduates could provide evidence that there is an increasing number of people in this group choosing not to look for employment.
Young population (21-30 year olds)
There were similarities in inactivity rates for the young population compared to the working age population. The rate is lowest for young postgraduates at 6.4% which is the lowest recorded rate for this group. The young graduates also had the lowest inactivity rate at 7.5% (equalling 2017).
They were higher for young non-graduates in 2023 at 22.3%, the highest inactivity rate for this group across the time series. The recent increase in the inactivity rate since 2020 for young non-graduates could suggest that there is an increasing number of people in this group choosing not to seek employment.
Working age population (16-64 year olds)
In 2023, both working age graduate employment rates and high-skilled employment rates were higher for males than females:
Working age graduate inactivity rates for males (8.7%) were lower than for females (12.1%). However, working age unemployment rates for females (2.0%) were 1.0 percentage points lower compared to males (3.0%) in 2023. The lower employment rates for female graduates are thus explained by higher rates of inactivity.
Working age population (16-64 year olds)
White working age graduates had the highest employment rate of 87.6% and high-skilled employment rate at 67.6% in 2023.
Asian or Asian British graduates saw the lowest employment rate (85.4%), while Black or African or Caribbean or Black British graduates saw the lowest high-skilled employment rate (58.8%).
The variation in the high-skilled employment rate across ethnicities was much higher (a range of 8.8 percentage points) than the variation in employment rate (a range of 2.1 percentage points).
Black or African or Caribbean or Black British graduates had the lowest inactivity rate at 8.8%. Graduates in the Asian or Asian British group had the highest inactivity rate at 11.3%.
Working age population (16-64 year olds)
Disabled graduates were less likely to be employed (high-skilled or otherwise) and more likely to be inactive than their non-disabled peers in 2023. The inactivity rate for disabled graduates (19.3%) was more than double the rate for non-disabled graduates (8.7%).
In 2023, working age graduates with first class and upper second (2:1) degrees had very similar employment rates (88.7% and 88.4%) and inactivity rates (9.3% and 9.5%) respectively. This suggests there was little difference in employment status depending on whether graduates achieved a first class or an upper second (2:1) degree.
Working age graduates with either a lower second (2:2) and third class degrees had lower employment and high-skilled employment rates, and higher inactivity rates compared to those with first class and upper second degrees. For example, the difference between those who obtained a first and third class degree are:
However, working age unemployment rates were very similar across the higher degree classes, with first class and lower second-class degrees being 2.2%, whilst upper second class was 2.4%. Unemployment rates for third class degrees were higher at 4.4% in 2023.
In the younger age groups, non-graduates have the highest proportion of workers in part-time employment. For example, in the 21-30 age group, 22.3% of employed non-graduates were working part-time compared to 10.1% of postgraduates.
These proportions level as the age group increases, and among the 51-60 age group, employed graduates have the highest proportion working part-time:
This suggests that reasoning for part-time employment may differ for post-graduates and graduates compared to non-graduates. For example, as earnings are greater with higher qualifications and age (see section 7), postgraduates and graduates may choose to work part-time later in life due to accumulating more earnings over their working life.
In 2023, the proportion of working age employees working part-time increased to 20.0% for graduates (up 0.9 percentage points) and increased for non-graduates to 27.8% (up by 1.0 percentage point) from 2022. In contrast this percentage fell for postgraduates to 19.1% (down 0.3 percentage points).
The proportion of working age employees working part-time has also fallen compared to 2019 (pre-pandemic) for both postgraduates and graduates, whilst for non-graduates it has increased slightly. This may suggest that full-time employment opportunities may have widened for postgraduates and graduates since 2019 but have not for non-graduates.
In 2023, the proportion of young employees working part-time fell for postgraduates to 10.1% (down 0.4 percentage points) and for graduates to 13.3% (down 1.1 percentage points). In contrast, this increased to 22.3% for non-graduates (up 1.4 percentage points) on 2022.
The proportion of young employees working part-time in 2019 (pre-pandemic) was higher than 2023 for graduates (14.4%), whilst it was lower for postgraduates (9.5%) and non-graduates (21.6%).
There were large differences between the genders for both graduates and non-graduates for the proportion of working age employees working part-time. In 2023, there were more females in part-time employment than males:
This creates a gender gap of 21.3 percentage points for graduates. For non-graduates, the gap between females and males was higher at 29.8 percentage points.
For female non-graduates this proportion peaked in 2012 at 47.2% and then generally declined before increasing increasing again in 2022 (42.4%) and 2023 (43.7%). However, the proportion of male non-graduates in part-time employment was the highest throughout the time series at 13.9% in 2023.