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How English domiciled graduate earnings vary with gender, institution attended, subject and socio-economic background

Author

Listed:
  • Jack Britton

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies)

  • Lorraine Dearden

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London)

  • Neil Shephard

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Harvard University)

  • Anna Vignoles

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Cambridge)

Abstract

This paper uses tax and student loan administrative data to measure how the earnings of English graduates around 10 years into the labour market vary with gender, institution attended subject and socioeconomic background. The English system is competitive to enter, with some universities demanding very high entrance grades. Students specialise early, nominating their subject before they enter higher education (HE). We find subjects like Medicine, Economics, Law, Maths and Business deliver substantial premiums over typical graduates, while disappointingly, Creative Arts delivers earnings which are roughly typical of non-graduates. Considerable variation in earnings is observed across diff erent institutions. Much of this is explained by student background and subject mix. Based on a simple measure of parental income, we see that students from higher income families have median earnings which are around 25% more than those from lower income families. Once we control for institution attended and subject chosen this premium falls to around 10%.

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Britton & Lorraine Dearden & Neil Shephard & Anna Vignoles, 2016. "How English domiciled graduate earnings vary with gender, institution attended, subject and socio-economic background," IFS Working Papers W16/06, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:16/06
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Walker, Ian & Zhu, Yu, 2018. "University selectivity and the relative returns to higher education: Evidence from the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 230-249.
    2. Anna Adamecz & Morag Henderson & Nikki Shure, 2024. "Intergenerational educational mobility – The role of non-cognitive skills," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 59-78, January.
    3. Francesconi, Marco & Parey, Matthias, 2018. "Early gender gaps among university graduates," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 63-82.
    4. Anna Adamecz-Völgyi & Morag Henderson & Nikki Shure, 2023. "The labor market returns to “first-in-family” university graduates," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1395-1429, July.
    5. Milla, Joniada, 2017. "The Context-Bound University Selectivity Premium," IZA Discussion Papers 11025, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Adriana Duta & Cristina Iannelli, 2018. "Social Class Inequalities in Graduates’ Labour Market Outcomes: The Role of Spatial Job Opportunities," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-18, October.
    7. McKnight, Abigail Ann & Obolenskaya, Polina, 2023. "The Conservative governments’ record on higher education: policy, spending and outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121557, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Silvia Kopecny & Steffen Hillmert, 2021. "Place of study, field of study and labour-market region: What matters for wage differences among higher-education graduates?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-21, December.
    9. Claire Callender & Kevin J. Dougherty, 2018. "Student Choice in Higher Education—Reducing or Reproducing Social Inequalities?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-28, October.
    10. Rita Hordósy & Tom Clark, 2018. "‘It’s Scary and It’s Big, and There’s No Job Security’: Undergraduate Experiences of Career Planning and Stratification in an English Red Brick University," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-20, September.
    11. Britton, Jack & van der Erve, Laura & Belfield, Chris & Vignoles, Anna & Dickson, Matt & Zhu, Yu & Walker, Ian & Dearden, Lorraine & Sibieta, Luke & Buscha, Franz, 2022. "How much does degree choice matter?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Andrew Jenkins & Alison Wolf, "undated". "What's in a Name? The Effect of Brand on the Level of English Universities' Fees," DoQSS Working Papers 16-12, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    13. Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna & Henderson, Morag & Shure, Nikki, 2020. "Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Sam Sims & Asma Benhenda, 2022. "The effect of financial incentives on the retention of shortage-subject teachers: evidence from England," CEPEO Working Paper Series 22-04, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Apr 2022.
    15. Arntz, Melanie & Lipowski, Cäcilia & Neidhöfer, Guido & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2022. "Computers as stepping stones? Technological change and equality of labor market opportunities," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-014, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Marginson, Simon, 2018. "Global trends in higher education financing: The United Kingdom," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 26-36.

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    Keywords

    Graduate; Earnings; University; Higher Education;
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