Higher Education Graduate Outcomes Statistics: UK, 2018/19 - Salary and location of graduates in work

Experimental statistics

What were the salaries of graduates?

Figure 13 shows:

• At an overall level, the £24,000-£26,999 band contains the highest proportion of graduates in full-time paid UK employment.
• Just over 6 in every 10 females were earning salaries below £27,000 compared with just under 5 in every 10 males. 
• A higher percentage of White graduates were earning salaries below £27,000 than BME graduates.
• A higher proportion of graduates with a known disability were also earning salaries below £27,000 when compared with graduates with no known disability.

Figure 14 shows:

• Among 2018/19 graduates, those who studied mathematical sciences saw the largest difference between high skilled and low skilled median salary at £11,000. This is followed by engineering & technology and computer science; £10,000 and £9,000 respectively.
• Regardless of subject studied, 2018/19 graduates in high skilled jobs had the same or higher median salary compared with 2017/18 graduates.
• A few subjects saw a decrease in median salary for those in medium and low skilled jobs. For example the median salary of 2018/19 graduates who had studied engineering & technology or architecture, building & planning and subsequently went into medium skilled jobs was £1,000 lower than for 2017/18 graduates in the same position. Those 2018/19 graduates who'd studied mathematical sciences or creative arts & design and went onto low skilled jobs also had a lower median salary than the equivalent cohort in 2017/18.

Note: Figure 14 was updated on 1st October 2021. This was to correct some errors in the data that were found in the version of the table published in this release on 20 July 2021. These errors were a result of the incorrect use of data types in calculating median salaries. Previous years’ releases, and other figures in this release are not affected.

Where were graduates employed?

Figure 15 presents information on the movement of UK students from home to study and on into work. It shows the number of graduates domiciled from a specified region and the flow of movements between that region and the rest of the UK. Figure 16 providers further detail on Figure 15, showing the specific regions that graduates move between.

Figure 16 shows:

• 2018/19 graduates who were in UK work at the time of the survey were most likely to be working in the same region as that which they were domiciled from.
• This was also true among 2017/18 graduates, however the proportion working in the same region as their domicile was the same or higher (by up to 2 percentage points per region) for 2018/19 graduates.
• The East of England had the lowest percentage of graduates who worked in the same region as that which they were domiciled from, at 54% among 2018/19 graduates. Conversely, Scotland was the region with the highest percentage of graduates working in the region from which they were domiciled, at 89%.

• Summary
• Graduate activities and characteristics
• Activities by previous study characteristics
• Graduate salaries and work locations
• Graduate reflections on activities
• Notes