Masters Graduate Starting Salaries and Employability in the UK

The median starting salary for postgraduates in the UK is £29,500. A Masters degree will likely increase your salary by an average of £3,000 compared to an undergraduate degree. Masters degrees will typically make you more employable, with 13% more Masters graduates in full-time employment compared to undergraduates. Postgraduates are also 25% more likely to hold a professional occupation 15 months after graduation compared to undergrads.

People have all sorts of reasons to do a Masters, but for a lot of folks, higher earnings and better employability are key factors. I get it—occupations relevant to your interests are neat, and if I earned more money, I could buy more strangely expensive bits of cardboard (and responsible things, but those are no fun).

As for whether you do earn more money, I’ve given the short answer in the intro. Since you’re a smart cookie, though, I’m sure you’re aware there’s more to it than just taking averages. After all, the average coffee consumption in the UK is about 1.44 cups per day, yet many people remain sleepyheads (it’s me, I’m people).

So, how about we go through the full breakdown? I’ll take you through the details on UK Masters salaries, employability, and how likely you are to find a better job at the end of things. I’ll also be showing off relevant data from sources like the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the UK Government, but only as much as necessary—I’ll leave the deep dives to my fellow stat nerds.

Masters graduate starting salaries in the UK

£29,500 is the salary I quoted in the intro for postgradutes between 16-64 years old, but what’s the background of that data?

First off, we’re sourcing it from the ‘Graduate labour market statistics (2024)’ report by the UK Office for National Statistics (since it’s the most recent data). That number is the median real terms salary – this means it has been adjusted for inflation, so it reflects the actual value of what graduates take home in today’s money. On the other hand, the median nominal salary for postgraduates is £47,000. This is the amount employers pay before any adjustments, such as inflation or deductions, which is why it looks much higher.

If we want to unpack the averages, we’re going to need an older data source. Here’s a % breakdown of graduate vs postgraduate salaries form the HESA Graduate Outcomes survey 15 months after graduation:

So, even just 15 months after graduation, significantly more postgraduates are earning over £39,000 a year than graduates. In some cases, it looks like that median is underselling a bit!

Of course, a major factor we need to consider for salary is Masters subject. To control for that, we’ll need the LEO Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes statistics…because we can’t just have all these stats from one data source. That would be too convenient, I suppose. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In any case, here’s the most recent breakdown of average salary by Masters subject five years after graduation:

As we can see, there are a few subjects that are well outside the averages. On the higher end, we have MBAs. Considering these are typically completed by people who already have work experience, this makes sense. Well, that and top level managers can bring in extortionate salaries (just don’t tell our CEO I said that).

On the lower end, meanwhile, we have Performing Arts at £24,500 a year. That doesn’t mean that a Masters degree definitely won’t increase your earnings as a Performing Arts postgrad, but it’s perhaps less likely to do so.

Here’s my advice before we close out this section: if you’re looking at one of these lower salaried Masters and you’re money conscious, make sure to balance future salary information with the other benefits of a Masters to know if one is right for you. Tempering expectations is the name of the game here—I wouldn’t want you to go off chasing that £29,500 median figure and end up disappointed.

Do Masters degrees make you more employable?

Salary is all well and good, but you need to get the job first. Will a Masters degree help with that? To answer that question in more detail, we’ll return to our old friend the Graduate Outcomes survey.

For 2022-2023, here are the employment destination statistics for graduates vs postgraduates 15 months after graduation:

This is where that 13% I quoted in the intro came from. That seems like a fairly slim margin, especially considering undergrads appear more likely to be in further study than postgrads. This is where we need to consider a related factor: not just raw employability, but what kind of employment Masters graduates engage in.

Will I find a better job with a Masters?

The Graduate Outcomes survey can shed some light on this. Here’s the 2022-2023 split between career types for graduate vs postgraduates 15 months after graduation:

What do these categories mean?

A ‘professional occupation’ is typically one in which more advanced training is necessary or beneficial for the role. We can see a 25% increase in employment for this occupation type compared to undergraduates, so that’s quite an employment bump!

As for ‘associate professional and technical occupations’ (what a mouthful), it’s a very broad group that includes everything from paramedics to youth workers. These occupations aren’t typically ones where a Masters degree is required, which would explain why employment rate is actually lower for postgrads (as Masters students are less likely to be looking for these roles).

I don’t think I need to explain what kind of jobs go into the managers box, so I’ll instead note that 2% is a surprisingly large increase considering an MBA is a small slice of the postgrad pie. If you’re thinking about management, it may be worth shopping around your industry on LinkedIn and see how many managers have Masters degrees. If it’s quite common (or those with degrees are typically more senior), that could be a good sign for you to get studying!

Job satisfaction

We have a few things to pull on for job satifaction thanks to the Graduate Outcomes survey. Students were asked to vote how much they agree with the following statements:

• My current activity is meaningful
• My current activity fits with my future plans
• I am utilising what I learnt during my studies in my current activity

‘Current activity’ is pretty broad (being unemployed counts as an activity, apparently), so let’s drill down to those in full-time employment. With that in mind, postgrads trended higher than undergrads in the following stats:

• 6% more found their employment meaningful
• 4% more thought their employment fit with their future plans
• 8% more utilised what they learned during their studies in their employment (makes sense given the earlier stats!)

So, not just higher job satisfaction, but higher satisfaction using their postgrad knowledge in the workplace. That’s not a bad showing if you ask me, but I trust you’ll draw your own conclusions based on the data. You can also write, sing or rap your own conclusions if that’s your preferred method of concluding (no judgement here).

Tips from the author

#1 Take generalities with a grain of salt

Stats and probabilities are useful up to a point, but they’re not a definite prediction of the future (take that up with your local divination specialist if you’re that way inclined). Your own personal circumstances will have a great effect on future employment and salaries, so you could well buck the trend one way or the other.

#2 Research outcomes from your specific university course

If you can’t find these through your university, you could try the ‘Alumni’ tab of their LinkedIn page—just pop your course title into the search box and see what comes up. Apparently the Masters in Creative Writing programme at my university produced two people working at different horse-related businesses (sounds like a rivals-to-lovers romance novel in the making).

#3 Consider studying abroad for further employability boosts

The Erasmus+ programme (a set of funding schemes that boost study mobility) set out a report covering some employability benefits of study abroad. Nine out of ten employers look for transferrable skills gained during study abroad, and 72% of Erasmus students said their experience contributed to getting their first job.

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