How do postgraduate and graduate earnings compare?

According to figures from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for graduates from 2005/6, the mean salary of UK domiciled full-time leavers obtaining doctorates and entering full-time paid employment in the UK, six months after graduation, was £27,394. For masters the equivalent figure was £24,428.

The AGR Winter Survey from 2008, found that, for those employers who did offer a premium to graduates, 65% would offer a premium to PhDs with the median amount paid being £6,450, 62.5% would offer a premium to postgraduates with Masters qualifications such as MSc and MAs (£3,508 median), whilst 32.5% would offer a premium to an MBA – although the median premium for an MBA was £12,000 for that small group of employers who offered them.

Another study which surveyed a sample of graduates from the 1999 cohort four years after graduation (Class Of '99) reveals that graduates who had taken a professional qualification since gaining a first degree have seen earnings increased by as much as 5%.

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