At the lower extreme, we exclude graduates who report an annual salary below the UK national minimum wage for those aged 21-24 which applied during the census period. We base our calculations of the minimum wage on the assumption that a graduate in full-time work will be working 30 hours per week, 52 weeks out of the year. Some 2018/19 and 2019/20 graduates will have been furloughed on 80% pay during the COVID-19 pandemic; for these cohorts of graduates, we exclude graduates earning less than 80% of the applicable national minimum wage.
Year of graduation
Minimum wage date
Minimum hourly wage
Salary cut off
2017/18
April 2018 – March 2019
£7.38
£11,513
2018/19
April 2019 – March 2020
£7.70
£9,610 (80% of minimum wage)
2019/20
April 2020 – March 2021
£8.20
£10,233 (80% of minimum wage)
2020/21
April 2021 – March 2022
£8.36
£13,042
At the upper extreme, we excluded graduates reporting salaries of more than £85,000, who represent the top 1% of earners. This aligns with the practice of the Office for National Statistics in recent publications on earnings.[17]
Appendix B: Additional tables
Table 1 - The distribution of the industries in which graduates work by Standard Occupational Classification