The publication methodology provides additional information on the generation and interpretation of figures and should be referenced together with the data. The methodology is available on the publication report.
Coverage
The graduate labour market statistics publication reports on the labour market outcomes of graduates and postgraduates, and compares them with those of non-graduates. The statistics use the data collected via the Labour Force Survey (LFS) relating to individuals domiciled within England.
This release explores:
Employment and earnings outcomes of graduates by their specific characteristics of gender, age group, ethnicity, disability status, degree class, subject, sector, occupation, and region.
Employment and earnings outcomes of graduates, post graduates and non-graduates by their age group and gender.
Proportion of graduates and non-graduates that work part time by their gender and age group.
File formats and conventions
Format
Files are Comma Separated Value (CSV).
Conventions
‘:’ samples are unavailable or sizes small.
Employment rates are rounded to one decimal place.
Median salaries are rounded to the nearest £500.
Labour Force Survey (LFS) datasets are routinely reweighted in line with population estimates. In 2018 a new weighting variable was introduced, PWT18, to LFS datasets from July - September 2011 onwards. In 2021 a further reweighting was applied to the LFS, with 2020 (PWT20) population weights being applied to both the 2020 and the 2021 LFS quarterly data.
Data files
All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.
Employment Rates by Disability Status
Filename
employment_rates_by_disability.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2021
Content
Graduate employment rates by disability status in 2021
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
Disability status
Disability status - Select the Disability Status you are interested in
Employment_rate
Graduate Employment Rate
graduate_group
Graduate Age Group - Select the Graduate Age Group you are interested in
High_skill_emp_rate
Graduate High-Skilled Employment Rate
Inactivity_rate
Graduate Inactivity Rate
Unemployment_rate
Graduate Unemployment Rate
Footnotes
The graduate group does not include postgraduates.
Disability status – Disabled/ Not Disabled. This breakdown is based on the legal definition found in the Equality Act (2010) which defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.
Graduate employment rates by different demographics in 2021
(By gender, age group, ethnicity, disability status, degree class, subject group, and region)
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
Employment_rate
Employment Rate
graduate_breakdown
Graduate Breakdown - Select the Graduate breakdown you are interested in
graduate_group
Graduate Group - Select the Graduate group you are interested in
High_skill_emp_rate
High-skilled Employment Rate
Inactivity_rate
Inactivity Rate
Unemployment_rate
Unemployment Rate
Footnotes
The graduate group does not include postgraduates.
Disability status – Disabled/ Not Disabled. This breakdown is based on the legal definition found in the Equality Act (2010) which defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.
Graduate median salaries by different demographics in 2021
(By gender, age group, ethnicity, disability status, degree class, subject group, industry, occupation, and region)
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
graduate_breakdown
Graduate Breakdown - Select the Graduate characteristic you interested in
graduate_group
Graduate Age Group - Select the Graduate Age Group you interested in
median
Median Salary to the nearest (£500)
sample_size
Sample Size
Footnotes
The graduate group does not include postgraduates.
Caution should be exercised when interpreting salary data - figures are not adjusted for inflation and are rounded to the nearest £500.
The method for calculating weighted median salaries has been adjusted for the 2021 publication, which has resulted in changes to the back series for several groups compared with previous GLMS releases. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Where no figure is shown, the data has been suppressed due to sample size.
Disability status – Disabled/ Not Disabled. This breakdown is based on the legal definition found in the Equality Act (2010) which defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.
Graduate median salaries by industry and gender in 2021
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
Gender
Gender - Select the Gender you are interested in
graduate_group
Graduate Age Group - Select the Graduate Age Group you are interested in
Industry
Industry - Select the Industry you are interested in
median
Median Salary for Graduates (to the nearest £500)
sample_size
Sample Size
Footnotes
The graduate group does not include postgraduates.
Caution should be exercised when interpreting salary data - figures are not adjusted for inflation and are rounded to the nearest £500.
The method for calculating weighted median salaries has been adjusted for the 2021 publication, which has resulted in changes to the back series for several groups compared with previous GLMS releases. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Where no figure is shown, the data has been suppressed due to sample size.
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age_group
Age Group - Select the Graduate Age Group you are interested in
Employment_rate
Employment Rate
graduate_type
Graduate Type - Select the Graduate Type you are interested in
High_skill_emp_rate
High-skilled Employment Rate
inactivity_rate
Inactivity Rate
Unemployment_rate
Unemployment Rate
Footnotes
Labour Force Survey (LFS) datasets are routinely reweighted in line with population estimates. As such, 2020 figures may not reflect those published within the 2020 GLMS release. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Caution should be exercised in making comparisons to years prior to 2010-2011 as SOC codes were revised by the ONS at this point. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
graduate_breakdown
Graduate Breakdown - Select the breakdown you are interested in
graduate_characteristic
Graduate Characteristic - Select the characteristic you are interested in
graduate_type
Graduate Type - Select the graduate type you are interested in
proportion_part_time_workers
Proportion Of Part Time Workers
Footnotes
The graduate group does not include postgraduates.
Labour Force Survey (LFS) datasets are routinely reweighted in line with population estimates. As such, 2020 figures may not reflect those published within the 2020 GLMS release. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age_group
Age Group - Select the Age group you are interested in
Emp_prop
Employment Rate
Emp_prop_lower
Employment Rate Lower Bound
Emp_prop_upper
Employment Rate Upper Bound
graduate_type
Graduate Type - Select the Graduate type you are interested in
HSEmp_prop
High-skilled Employment Rate
HSEmp_prop_lower
High-skilled Employment Rate Lower Bound
HSEmp_prop_upper
High-skilled Employment Rate Upper Bound
Quarter
Quarter - Select which Quarter of the year you are interested in
Unemp_prop
Unemployment Rate
Unemp_prop_lower
Unemployment Rate Lower Bound
Unemp_prop_upper
Unemployment Rate Upper Bound
Footnotes
Labour Force Survey (LFS) datasets are routinely reweighted in line with population estimates. As such, 2020 figures may not reflect those published within the 2020 GLMS release. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Caution should be exercised in making comparisons to years prior to 2010-2011 as SOC codes were revised by the ONS at this point. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Time Series for Salaries by Gender and Graduate Type
Filename
yearly_salaries_by_gender_200721.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2007 to 2021
Content
Median salaries by different demographics time series 2007 - 2021
(By gender, age group, and graduate type)
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age_group
Age Group
gender
Gender
graduate_type
Graduate Type
median
Median Salary to the nearest £500
Footnotes
Caution should be exercised when interpreting salary data - figures are not adjusted for inflation and are rounded to the nearest £500.
The method for calculating weighted median salaries has been adjusted for the 2021 publication, which has resulted in changes to the back series for several groups compared with previous GLMS releases. Further details are set out within the methodology.
Labour Force Survey (LFS) datasets are routinely reweighted in line with population estimates. As such, 2020 figures may not reflect those published within the 2020 GLMS release. Further details are set out within the methodology.