Income returns to education

Data on the effect of different levels of education on the earnings of young people aged 25 to 29 years, by socio-economic background.

  1. Summary main findings
  2. Relative differences
  3. By year
  4. By sex
  5. By ethnicity
  6. By disability status
  7. About the data
  8. Download the data

Summary main findings

Data for the period from 2019 to 2021 shows that higher levels of education among 25 to 29 year olds are associated with higher earnings. Young people with a higher degree – such as a master’s degree – earned 63% more than those from the same socio-economic background with no GCSEs. Young people with an undergraduate degree earned 54% more.

The earnings gaps between levels of qualifications have remained roughly constant between 2014 to 2016, and 2019 to 2021.

Young women’s hourly earnings were significantly lower than those of young men with the same level of qualification and from the same socio-economic background.

Young people from ethnic minorities earned around the same as White British young people with the same level of qualification.

Disabled young people earned significantly less than those without a disability with the same level of qualification. For people with an undergraduate degree (but not a higher degree), disabled young people earned 84% of the hourly earnings of those without a disability.

Relative differences

Visualisation for relative differences

Percentage differences in hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds, relative to those with lower level (below GCSE grade 1 or equivalent), controlling for socio-economic background, sex and age (UK, 2019 to 2021 combined)

Data for relative differences

Percentage differences in hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds, relative to those with lower level (below GCSE grade 1 or equivalent), controlling for socio-economic background, sex and age (UK, 2019 to 2021 combined)
Highest qualification Percentage difference relative to lower level (%)
Higher degree 62.9
First degree 54.0
Further education below degree 29.3
A level and equivalent 19.3
O level, GCSE and equivalent 10.9
Lower level (below CSE grade 1) 0.0

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By year

Visualisation for by year

Hourly earnings in pounds (£) of 25 to 29 year olds, by highest qualification controlling for socio-economic background, sex and age (UK, 2014 to 2021, 3-year rolling averages)

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Data for by year

Hourly earnings in pounds (£) of 25 to 29 year olds, by highest qualification controlling for socio-economic background, sex and age (UK, 2014 to 2021, 3-year rolling averages)
Year Lower level (below CSE grade 1) (£) O level, GCSE and equivalent (£) A level and equivalent (£) Further education below degree (£) First degree (£) Higher degree (£)
2019 to 2021 9.15 10.14 10.91 11.83 14.08 14.90
2018 to 2020 9.07 10.29 10.69 11.44 13.64 14.73
2017 to 2019 9.07 10.29 10.69 11.44 13.64 14.73
2016 to 2018 9.13 9.86 10.56 11.19 13.24 14.80
2015 to 2017 8.70 9.87 10.33 11.22 12.94 14.74
2014 to 2016 8.38 9.71 10.18 10.88 12.80 15.26

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By sex

Visualisation for by sex

Mean (average) hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds in the UK, by educational level and sex, controlling for socio-economic background and age (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

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Data for by sex

Mean (average) hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds in the UK, by educational level and sex, controlling for socio-economic background and age (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)
Highest qualification Men (£) Women (£)
Higher degree 14.62 13.47
First degree 13.21 12.18
Further education below degree 11.60 9.91
A level and equivalent 10.86 9.10
O level, GCSE and equivalent 9.98 8.87
Lower level (below CSE grade 1) 8.67 8.17

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By ethnicity

Visualisation for by ethnicity

Mean (average) hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds in the UK, by educational level and ethnicity, controlling for socio-economic background and age (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

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Data for by ethnicity

Mean (average) hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds in the UK, by educational level and ethnicity, controlling for socio-economic background and age (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)
Ethnicity Degree (£) Non-degree (£)
Bangladeshi 9.66 9.05
Chinese 13.07 9.16
Indian 13.26 8.89
Pakistani 12.25 8.94
Black African 13.67 8.95
Black Caribbean 11.41 11.07
Mixed 13.40 10.18
White British 12.95 9.84
White other 13.07 8.84
Other 11.93 9.47

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By disability status

Visualisation for by disability status

Mean (average) hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds in the UK, by educational level and disability status, controlling for socio-economic background and age (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data for by disability status

Mean (average) hourly earnings of 25 to 29 year olds in the UK, by educational level and disability status, controlling for socio-economic background and age (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)
Highest qualification Disabled (£) Not disabled (£)
Lower level (below CSE grade 1) 8.45 8.47
O level, GCSE and equivalent 7.64 9.75
A level and equivalent 9.22 10.09
Further education below degree 9.22 11.01
First degree 10.79 12.85
Higher degree 14.02 14.01

Download for by disability status

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About the data

Data source

Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Time period

2014 to 2021 (3-year rolling averages)

Geographic area

UK

What the data measures

The data shows the effect of different levels of education on the earnings of young people aged 25 to 29 years in the UK.

Things you need to know

Data is weighted using LFS probability weights. Earnings are adjusted for inflation.

Data is combined for 3 years (for example, 2019 to 2021) to give more accurate estimates.

Percentage differences were estimated from a linear regression model of log hourly earnings, by educational level controlling for socio-economic background, sex and age.

For data by year, the estimates refer to the hourly earnings of men from a lower working-class background.

For data by sex, ethnicity and disability status, estimates are shown for people aged 27 years from lower working-class backgrounds.

For data by ethnicity, a simplified measure of educational level is used, (degree-level and non-degree level qualifications) so that sample sizes are large enough to analyse.

The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. These intervals show where we expect the true value from a population to be 95% of the time. For example, a confidence interval with the range of values from 5 to 10 implies that there is a 95% chance that the true population value is between 5 and 10, and a 5% chance that it is outside of this range. The narrower the confidence interval or range, the more precise the estimate. Read more about confidence intervals

Type of data

Survey data

Full report

Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.

Download the data

Download full dataset (CSV, 21KB)

This file contains the following variables:

  • Indicator code
  • Indicator name
  • Area type
  • Area code
  • Area name
  • Time period
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Category type
  • Category
  • Category type2
  • Category2
  • Value
  • Sample size
  • Lower confidence interval
  • Upper confidence interval
  • Unit
  • Value note

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