Graduate earnings premium squeezed as degree value falls

Earnings premium shrinks to 3 per cent for some graduates, research suggests

There has been a significant decline in the financial value of degrees, particularly for people who were awarded lower classifications, a major study has suggested.

According to research by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) and the University of Warwick, graduates born in 1990 earned an average of 10 per cent more than their non-graduate peers by age 26. Graduates born in 1970, meanwhile, were earning 17 per cent higher more than non-graduates in the same timeframe.