What are the salaries of HE leavers?
Figure 8 shows the median salaries of UK domiciled full-time leavers from APs who were employed in full-time paid work in the UK, split by level of qualification obtained. Across the six subjects for which first degree and other undergraduate median salaries are shown, four subjects have higher median salaries among those who qualified with a first degree than those who qualified with an other undergraduate qualification. The two exceptions to this were across those who had studied law and those who had studied creative arts & design.
Median salaries varied between subjects. First degree leavers who studied law had a median salary of £18,500, compared to leavers who studied either subjects allied to medicine or architecture, building and planning whose median salary was £28,000. Other undergraduate leavers had less variation in the median salaries between different subjects. Historical and philosophical leavers had a median salary of £18,500 compared to architecture, building and planning whose median salary was £27,500. The total median salary for all levels of qualification was £21,000.
Figure 9 shows the median salaries of UK domiciled full-time leavers from designated courses at APs who entered full-time UK paid work, split by sex, professional and non-professional occupations and level of qualification. Amongst those in professional employment, males have a higher median salary than females. This is true amongst postgraduate (taught), first degree and other undergraduate leavers, although the difference is largest amongst postgraduate (taught) leavers. For those other undergraduate leavers in non-professional employment, again, males have a higher median salary than females. However, this gender pay gap is reversed amongst both first degree and postgraduate (taught) leavers in non-professional employment.
Figure 10 also highlights an overall difference between the salaries of males and females at all levels of qualification. In 2016/17 the median salary for UK domiciled first degree female leavers from designated courses at APs was £21,000 compared to £22,000 for males. There is a greater difference when looking at the mean salary, £22,500 for females compared to £26,000 for males. This pay gap is also apparent amongst UK domiciled first degree leavers from publicly funded HE providers (source: HESA).
