Majority of undergraduate degrees boost wellbeing and finances for graduates, according to PwC analysis

• Graduates that study sports sciences and medicine undergraduate degrees provide the highest wellbeing benefits, while medicine, economics and pharmacology provide the highest financial benefits. 
• All undergraduate degrees boost earnings by 57% on average relative to non-graduates, but the highest earnings premiums are in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Law, Economics, Management (LEM) or medicine related courses.
• Higher earnings, while important, do not fully align with greater graduate wellbeing.
• Vocational undergraduate degrees such as nursing tend to have the most positive impact on wellbeing.

While all undergraduate degrees boost earnings, there is strong evidence of a graduate wellbeing premium as well, in which studying an undergraduate degree provides a positive impact on life satisfaction over non-graduates, new PwC analysis has found.

Achieving a degree provides positive impact on life satisfaction

Of the 35 undergraduate degrees evaluated in the PwC analysis, 28 degrees had a positive impact on self-reported life satisfaction relative to non-graduates. For the courses with the highest life satisfaction effects, this is equivalent to around a 5% boost to life satisfaction for the average person (as at FY23). This provides the same boost to life satisfaction as over £5,000 in additional earnings every year. 

While high earnings were linked to higher wellbeing, this was not always the case and other factors play a part. Many of the courses with the largest wellbeing premiums, such as sports sciences and education, have relatively low earnings premiums. 

Many of the courses with the highest wellbeing premiums are vocational or medicine allied, which generally lead to employment in the public sector. This includes both courses with high earnings premiums (e.g. medicine and dentistry) and relatively lower earnings premiums (e.g. education, nursing). This could indicate that public sector workers gain a greater sense of life satisfaction from their undergraduate degrees and careers. 

At the other end of the spectrum, there are also a number of courses with high earnings premiums that have low or negative life satisfaction effects, including politics, computing and law. The analysis suggests that politics graduates may even have marginally poorer life satisfaction than non-graduates with similar characteristics.

Chart 1: The average impact of undergraduate degrees on self-reported life satisfaction of working-age graduates relative to those with no degree on a 0-10 scale (graduate wellbeing premium), where 0 = not at all satisfied and 10 = completely satisfied 

Undergraduate degrees boost earnings across the board

All 35 of the undergraduate degrees analysed in our sample were found to boost earnings, at around 57% on average relative to non-graduates with similar personal and work related characteristics.  The undergraduate degrees that generate the highest earnings premiums are either in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), LEM (Law, Economics and Management) or medicine courses. Specifically, medicine and dentistry graduates earn more than twice as much as their non-graduate equivalents, with an earnings premium of 124%. 

Chart 2: The average impact of undergraduate degrees on the gross earnings of working-age graduates, relative to non-graduates with similar personal and work-related characteristics (graduate earnings premium)

Barret Kupelian, Chief Economist at PwC said:

“Today, more than 1 in 2 young people go into higher education, so it plays a key role in shaping the next generation of talent into the workplace. Rarely do students pick undergraduate degrees based solely on future earnings. Instead, they pursue subjects on  a mix of what they are passionate about and what is meaningful to them based on their personal experiences. This is why it is important to get a holistic view of the impact studying for a degree can have on individuals. Our analysis shows both positive financial and non-financial value to going into higher education. 

“There is no one size fits all approach to happiness and career satisfaction, but the findings present an opportunity for businesses and employers to reflect on how they can improve their overall employee proposition. Fulfilment in a career is more nuanced than simply financial compensation so the professions that rank low on the wellbeing tables can improve non-financial factors, such as team culture and career development, to ensure they offer what new graduates are increasingly looking for from their future employers.”  

Damien Ashford, education leader at PwC, added: 

“The economic and wellbeing benefits of education are incredibly important to individuals, the economy and society. Whilst our research shows how most people significantly benefit economically from higher education, it’s evident that there are also far reaching wellbeing benefits from participation in higher education. We need more people with higher level skills to boost productivity, and whilst higher education is one path, there is great value to all education options, including apprenticeships and further education. There is an important role for employers and educational organisations to ensure people have fair access and are supported to pursue their aspirations through whichever route suits them best.”

Ends.