Research and analysis

Undergraduate degrees: labour market returns by background characteristics

Analysis of the earnings return at age 30 and the estimated lifetime earnings return to undergraduate degrees by socio-economic status and ethnicity.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 26 March 2021

Applies to England

Documents

The returns to undergraduate degrees by socio-economic group and ethnicity: research report

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-244-1, DfE-RR1100

PDF, 627 KB, 72 pages

The returns to undergraduate degrees by socio-economic group and ethnicity: data tables

ODS, 14 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Details

This research uses the longitudinal education outcomes (LEO) dataset to compare the age 30 and lifetime earnings of individuals that do and do not attend higher education across socio-economic and ethnic groups.

It also explores differences in:

• participation
• institution
• subject choice

This is the fifth report in a series of research publications. The previous reports covered:

• postgraduate degrees labour market returns
• lifetime labour market returns
• absolute labour market returns
• relative labour market returns

For additional underlying data, contact the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Published 26 March 2021