Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) from Universities: 2022-23: Scotland

Subject Area and Sex

Table 1 shows the median total earnings for UK-domiciled first-degree graduates from Scottish HEIs five years after graduation split by subject area and sex.

Median earnings can vary greatly between subject and sex, and some subjects are more commonly studied by either males or females. For example, the majority of graduates from ‘Engineering’ and ‘Physics and astronomy’ - which are typically higher-earning subjects, are male, whereas the majority of graduates from ‘Health and social care’ and ‘Psychology’ – which are typically lower-earning subjects, are female. This is not the case for every subject, however given there are proportionally more males than females graduating from high earning subjects, it is likely to contribute towards some of the variation in earnings.

Male graduates from 2016/17 earned on average £2,500 more than female graduates, with male graduates earning £35,000 in 2022/23 compared to £32,500 for female graduates.

The gap in median earnings between male and female graduates for previous graduate cohorts has fluctuated over the years, however the gap in this years cohort is the same gap seen in the last full publication release in 2022, where male graduates from 2013/14 earned £30,700 on average compared to £28,200 for females.

In 20 out of 35 subject areas, males have higher median earnings than female earnings on average five years after graduation. The largest difference is seen in ‘Veterinary sciences’, where male graduates earned £46,000 compared to £39,200 for female graduates. Female median earnings exceeded male median earnings on average in 10 out of 35 subject areas five years after graduation. Of these subject areas, the largest difference is seen in ‘Languages and area studies’ where females earned £33,600 compared to £31,400 for male graduates.

Male and female graduates from ‘Mathematical sciences’ and ‘Sociology, social policy and anthropology’ earned the same on average, with graduates from these subject areas earning £40,200 and £28,100 respectively five years after graduation.

Due to small numbers of either male or female graduates for subject areas within ‘Celtic studies’ and ‘Combined and general studies’ - the figures have been suppressed for both males and females. Figures are suppressed overall for graduates from ‘Materials and technology’ as both males and females have very small cohort sizes.

Table 1: Median total earnings of graduates* from Scottish HEIs by sex and subject studied five years after graduation, 2022/23 tax year

*UK-domiciled first-degree graduates 2016/17
[1] The table presents the total earnings for those in sustained employment five years after graduation. Hours worked are not taken into account.
[2] ‘x’ denotes that data have been suppressed to prevent disclosure. All figures associated with cohorts smaller than 11 have been suppressed, and further suppression has been implemented to prevent disclosure by subtraction.
[3] Graduates with a sex recorded as neither male nor female are not included to prevent disclosure given the small cohort size.