Research and analysis

Labour market value of higher and further education qualifications: a summary report

Review of evidence and analysis of young people's earnings after studying for qualifications in higher or further education.

Documents

Labour market value of higher and further education qualifications: a summary report

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A review of the evidence on young people’s earnings after studying in higher or further education. To understand the value added by a qualification, their earnings are compared with those of similar individuals who did not study for the same qualification(s).

The review also contains exploratory analysis comparing the “value-add” of a university with how it performs on selected access measures.

This report forms part of the Social Mobility Commission’s work to meet its public commitment as outlined in Action 53 of Inclusive Britain, published in March 2022.

Published 9 February 2023
Last updated 9 February 2023 + show all updates
  1. The sentence preceeding footnote 40 (or bottom of page 31) has changed to refer to the proportion of students from non state school backgrounds decreasing, rather than from FSM eligible backgrounds increasing.

  2. Footnote 40 of the report has been updated to reflect that an average of 31.5% of students at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge University, London School of Economics and Political Science and Imperial College London were not state school educated.

  3. First published.