Is Improving Access to University Enough? Socio-Economic Gaps in the Earnings of English Graduates
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Authors
Britton, J
Dearden, L
Shephard, N
Vignoles, A
Publication Date
2019Journal Title
Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics
ISSN
0305-9049
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
81
Issue
2
Pages
328-368
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Britton, J., Dearden, L., Shephard, N., & Vignoles, A. (2019). Is Improving Access to University Enough? Socio-Economic Gaps in the Earnings of English Graduates. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 81 (2), 328-368. https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12261
Abstract
Much research and policy attention has been on socio-economic gaps in participation at university, but less attention has been paid to socio-economic gaps in graduates' earnings. This paper addresses this shortfall using tax and student loan administrative data to investigate the variation in earnings of English graduates by socio-economic background. We fi nd that graduates from higher income families (with median income of around $77,000) have average earnings which are 20% higher than those from lower income families (with median income of around $26,000). Once we condition on institution and subject choices, this premium roughly halves, to around 10%. The premium grows with age and is larger for men, in particular for men at the most selective universities. We estimate the extent to which different institutions and subjects appear to deliver good earnings for relatively less well off students, highlighting the
good performance of medicine, economics, law, business, engineering, technology and computer science, as well as the prominent London-based universities.
Sponsorship
Nuffield Foundation
British Academy
Funder references
Nuffield Foundation (EDU/41336)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12261
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/279908
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http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved
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