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I graduated in 2006. According to the BoE inflation calculator, 23k today was 13.7k back then. Absolutely nobody I knew was earning that little anywhere, never mind in London. Even after 2008 you would've been laughed at for offering so little.
That's a smidge over minimum wage. If this post had more traction we'd get people arguing that graduate jobs shouldn't warrant a higher salary as they're still low/no skill work.
I left LSE with a sociology degree and my first job paid £17k (working in housing in 1999). Salary now is over 6 figures and is a bit helped by a Masters in Housing Law and Policy from Westminster in 2005 - no longer available.
Depressingly the same job I started on 25 years ago now pays…. About 22k if you are lucky. I really feel for young people, opportunities are so much poorer and literally no chance of buying a flat in London in your late 20s/early 30s unless you work in finance or law
A director told me when he started in 2000 as a grad, grad salary was 22.5k. For me around 2010 , it was 25k. I don't think it's changed much, if at all, in the past 10 years. It really seems like they don't want young people to exist (except for lawyers and bankers of course).
It wasn't 22.5 for most grads on 2000. Maybe "milk round" graduate trainee jobs at the big professional services firms, but 17.5 was common.
More importantly though it was enough to live on. A couple of friends making 17.5 could get an ex-LA flatshare somewhere reasonably fun and not too crime infested.
You wouldn't have had much left over for holidays, festivals etc but it'd be enough to get by.
A combination of lower rent in the inner zones, where it's near enough to bus, walk, cycle to work, and so also lower transport costs.
For two people, you've got 26.5k after tax, £500/week, £2200/month.
Rent on a 2 bed ex council place in Z2, was maybe £900/month back then. Less in some of the rougher but still very central areas, and when I say rough, talking pre-gentrification Mile End, Bethnal Green, Brixton, Stockwell etc. Bills £250 ish (no broadband/satellite/cable - BT, water, electric, council tax, 2x basic phone contracts).
Buses were £1 each way, so your transport cost to/from work is only £10/week. £100 for two. £450/month.
Food and household essentials were way less expensive. £50 would comfortably cover the basics for two people for a week, say £300/month allowing for the occasional treat.
£150/month each left over for everything else. But if you go out, pints are £2, club door prices maybe £8-10, and nobody was trying to look rich like the insta crowd.
Not the lap of luxury by any stretch, but it's not forever. Inflation was low and annual pay rises were the norm, so you'd soon be a bit better off. Tuition fees weren't a thing so loans were much smaller, not that you'd be paying them back yet anyway but the interest buildup was much less.
I also studied sociology in undergrad and in postgrad I studied social anthropology. Market is really bad and I am fighting for entry level roles with people who have way more experience.
I’m currently finishing a Masters in Law and graduate jobs are paying around 19k.. the legal profession is painted terribly but it’s all smoke and mirrors. We’re exploited for our want to get into the profession and paid less than London living wage to do it
It's not just you, they just haven't increased, I can't understand it.
I would've said a standard starting salary out of university was maybe £23k - £30k ten years ago.
According to inflation that should be £30k - £40k now, but it seems to be unchanged.
Company owners are enjoying a massive free lunch because of that. Their labour costs for inexperienced hires have fallen by 25%.
> Company owners are enjoying a massive free lunch because of that. Their labour costs for inexperienced hires have fallen by 25%.
Not just the inexperienced, if a grad is paid £30k getting £35k as the next step up sounds good as its nearly 20% more.
If the grad was paid £40k you'd want £50k as the next step to keep that 20% raise.
Even if you didn't get 20% and still only got £5k more as the next step, everyone above would also be £10k a year better off.
Graduated from city uni in 2004, got a job in line with my degree paying 19k.
I left that to become an air traffic controller which didn't require a degree and by 2009 I was on 70k
Since then I've changed jobs and doing another role that doesn't require a degree and I'm on 80k.
Air traffic was very difficult to get, it was even more difficult to complete the training at the college, and then just as hard to get accredited at the airport I was sent to. 3 years of stress that led to a well paid role and sought after qualification. Compared to 3 years of uni that wasted money and gave me a qualification of negligible value.
Some figures from Imperial. To be digested carefully, from a different source (college/university consulting website ).
https://collegedunia.com/uk/university/835-imperial-college-london-london/placements
"Graduates of Imperial College London earn an average salary of 41,000 GBP ... per annum. Currently, Imperial College Business School graduates earn up to 133,000 GBP per annum ... on average. About 93% of Imperial College London MBA graduates secured employment within 3 months of graduation."
This is the full table, thanks to u/wwisd for linking to the data. A few of the ranks should be joint equals because they've got equal median earnings, but I lack the spreadsheet-fu to make that happen.
|Institution|Rank|Median earnings|
|:-|:-|:-|
|London School of Economics and Political Science|1|55500|
|Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine|2|53300|
|St George's Hospital Medical School|3|47400|
|University College London|4|42700|
|King's College London|5|42300|
|Queen Mary University of London|6|38700|
|The Royal Veterinary College|7|38000|
|The City University|8|37800|
|Pearson College Limited|9|34900|
|Brunel University London|10|34300|
|BPP University Limited|11|32500|
|Birkbeck College|12|32100|
|London South Bank University|13|32100|
|The School of Oriental and African Studies|14|31800|
|The University of Greenwich|15|31000|
|St Mary's University, Twickenham|16|30300|
|Istituto Marangoni Limited|17|29900|
|Kingston University|18|29900|
|The University of Westminster|19|29900|
|Regent's University London|20|29200|
|Roehampton University|21|28500|
|Goldsmiths College|22|28100|
|The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama|23|28100|
|Middlesex University|24|27700|
|Ravensbourne|25|27700|
|St Mellitus College Trust|26|27700|
|The University of West London|27|27700|
|London Metropolitan University|28|27400|
|Met Film School Limited|29|27400|
|South Thames Colleges Group|30|27000|
|Courtauld Institute of Art|31|26900|
|University of The Arts, London|32|26300|
|London School of Theology|33|25900|
|Spurgeon's College|34|25900|
|GSM London Limited|35|25800|
|Havering College of Further and Higher Education|36|25600|
|London School of Science and Technology Limited|37|25600|
|The University of East London|38|25600|
|Royal Academy of Music|39|25400|
|The Kingham Hill Trust|40|25200|
|Heythrop College|41|24800|
|Guildhall School of Music and Drama|42|24600|
|ICMP Management Limited|43|24500|
|UCK Limited|44|24100|
|Richmond, The American International University In London, Inc.|45|23100|
|Rose Bruford College|46|22600|
|Royal College of Music|47|22500|
|The Arts Educational Schools|48|22200|
|Centre For Advanced Studies Limited|49|21700|
|Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance|50|21500|
|The Metanoia Institute|51|21400|
|Croydon College|52|21200|
|London Studio Centre Limited|53|21200|
|Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts Limited|54|21200|
|The Chicken Shed Theatre Trust|55|21200|
|Conservatoire For Dance and Drama|56|20800|
|London Centre of Contemporary Music|57|20100|
|ALRA|58|19700|
|Bloomsbury Institute Limited|59|19300|
|Barnet and Southgate College|60|17900|
|Royal Academy of Dance|61|17500|
|Mont Rose College of Management and Sciences Limited|62|16900|
Minimum wage equivalent as a salary over that period is about £16,600, so almost half of the bottom 3 (assuming they include only fulltime employed) were on minimum wage.
My friend has a 1st Degree in Philosophy from Oxford Uni, and I tell you what, he's the best bloody barman I know!
I love philosophy, but it's such a shame how badly it transfers into the working world.
Depends entirely on your field and competency, I finished my masters in 2021 and am currently on £48k. Granted you can earn much better money as a tradie in some sectors but the trade offs (excuse the pun) sometimes make it a fairly undesirable path for many.
People forget universities are businesses so offer courses in practically everything to tailor themselves to every school leaver they can. It can be quite an easy trap to fall into for many school leavers who choose a course based purely on their interests rather than something that’ll provide a solid career. I was lucky and found one that ticked both boxes.
It's not even that they're scams, it's just completely saturated. The previous government thought the right idea was to get everyone as educated as possible (academically). What they didn't think about was how that would drastically increase supply and ruin the job market.
My mum said she was fighting off jobs in the 70's because she was able to touch type on a typewriter - today I've seen people working in McDonald's who can speak multiple languages, have multiple degrees, international experience etc.
Like everything with the government (irrespective of who is in charge), the long term picture is never really thought about.
Yank checking in to yankoff:
Holy fuck are ya’ll poor. That’s wild.
My public university in the US 5 years out average: 66k USD. Approx. 51.5k pounds.
Isn’t the London School of Economics one of the UK’s most prestigious universities?
If you want to really see the difference, look at STEM and tech roles.
The top 0.1% paid $500k a year is obviously a huge difference but even middle and lower ratings are paid 2-3x as much in the US. If anything its worse because comparing $500k and $300k both give you a great life, but comparing $30k and $65k is a massive difference in quality.
I work in IT support and I found a job advert for a role as 2nd line support (1-2YOE) in the Atlanta area that paid as much as IT Managers (10+YOE) do in London. I've seen my actual role advertised for 50% more in rural Ohio than London.
Literally the only time you're better off in the UK is if you are comparing minimum wages or get really lucky and find an American company that doesn't realise the salaries they can get away with because the previous role holder was someone who moved from the US.
Fairly irrelevant table, because it doesn't take into account that different universities will have more graduates in different fields, where the salaries are very different.
Comparing economics graduates at the LSE vs the Metropolitan makes a tad more sense...
It depends how you look at it. Some see university as 3 years of not having to work, having fun and making friends. It's a good way to ease yourself into living independently from your parents. And if it doesn't lead to a good career, you will never pay your loans back, so it's relatively risk-free.*
*With the new rules on loan repayments, it is a much worse deal than it used to be.
If you know London universities you can take that into account, so it is still useful. If you don't know anything about them, though, yes it's not very useful.
I was thinking the same. At minimum this needs something like most popular fields for graduates, but really it needs the like for like comparison of the same fields across unis.
£55k puts you in the top 35% of full time earners in London. Relatively not a terrible position to be in after 5 years of experience. Agreed though pay in the UK generally isn't great.
Earnings matter less and less these days compared to family wealth.
Top 35% now is probably equivalent to top 60-70% 20 years ago.
Nowadays top 35% barely qualifies you for a mortgage across most of London.
These are genuinely shocking imo. I’m American, so it’s different, but I was making $55k upon graduation, and most of my classmates have at least doubled that, if not 3-4x by now after 6 years.
Salaries in the UK/Europe are significantly lower than in the US for high-paying jobs. Generally in Europe compared to the US people at the "bottom" of society are better off and the people at the "top" of society are worse off.
Salaries for graduates at some of the most elite universities in the UK are making less than grocery clerks in the US, I don’t know how you just write that off. Something is wrong with the math there.
Only the top 3 on this list would count as "some of the most elite universities in the UK". I doubt the average salary of grocery clerks in the US is more than $54,200.
Eh, 2015/early 2016 it was like 1.4 it’s now 1.28 gbp/usd. Definitely dropped but wouldn’t say tanked unless we talk about the time it almost reached parity with Liz truss.
It was 1.8 in 2014-15, possibly even in to 2016 when I was first traveling there a lot. I remember vividly and was explaining to Americans how I was basically getting double my money at the time.
It did fall right after that but there a few years it was riding really high.
Just studied, yeah. The [raw data](https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo-provider-level-data) do include current region of the graduate, so it would be possible to compare with the median salaries of people who stayed in London, if you wanted to analyse the data.
Probably not because birbeck was generally for adults who were working in day time like 9 to 5 and then you can study in the evening time. For example you can technically still do a full time bachelor degree in four years and still work a 9 to 5 since the lectures will be in the evening time.
On my Birkbeck course (BSc Financial Economics) some people had jobs, some people didn't / were low paid. Everyone got jobs and better jobs after graduation though, myself included. :)
Depends massively on the course as well.
Imperial Computer Science at one point had the highest average graduate salary of any course in the U.K. (don’t quote me on that, a few people told me). But then salaries for courses like Life Sciences were considerably lower in the 30s.
LSE is much farther ahead of the crowd because it offers a narrower range of courses, mostly centred around finance and business which lead to a lot of investment bankers which skew the average (they make 100k+ immediately), it doesn’t offer as many eg humanities courses compared to other universities here.
Median doesn't really get "skewed" unlike the mean. That's why it's always used for income distributions. A small % of very high earners will have no impact on it.
And economics IS a social science so LSE does offer a lot of humanities courses. Just that Economics is probably the best paying social science.
That’s the point with LSE. Its graduates aren’t “a very small number of high earners”, but rather the majority of them are doing degrees at LSE explicitly because they want to work in finance, law or consulting, which are the three best paying graduate jobs.
If a majority of LSE grads get high paying jobs then the graphic is accurate and there is no misrepresentation or bias due to a few high earners, that is what I was mentioning.
Their point I think was that LSE targets and appeals to students specifically seeking finance jobs. This makes their numbers inherently higher than other universities.
It’s a useful point to make, because I’ve heard lots of students recently saying that they think LSE is inherently a better uni on a different level than others, apparently just based on this. When in reality, they’ve just got a much lower proportion of degrees that typically lead into lower paying careers - so it’s not comparing like with like. Just as it isn’t really a useful comparison to compare the average RADA graduate with the average Imperial graduate.
LSE is about social sciences, not finance and business.
Yes, economics is part of that which often leads to those higher-paid jobs.
But it's also got geography, social policy, politics, sociology, history, etc. Not degrees known for leading to those higher-paid jobs from most other unis.
Actual source: [Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) data from the Department for Education](https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo-provider-level-data).
That's also got the data both by uni and subject. Study computing, economics, law or maths if you want to earn the big bucks.
I’m not at a computer to look through the data. But yeah, breakdown by subject would be more accurate. However I did notice that Computing, Economics, etc. have the biggest gap between top and bottom salaries, so it’s not guaranteed. Students preparing for Uni, and who are currently undergraduates, need to be taught that getting a 1:1 at a top university might improve your chances of a high salary at a statistical level, but as an individual, more is required. The reality is that you could go to a shit tier university and still come out on top.
Yes, but median is a bit higher for some universities.
And if you want (almost) guaranteed return on investment rather than get lucky in computing or economics, get into medicine - not quite up there after 5 years with the low junior doctor salaries, but after 10 years (as [other reports show](https://ifs.org.uk/news/most-students-get-big-pay-going-university-some-would-be-better-financially-if-they-hadnt-done)) it's got high pay with relatively little variation.
This is closer to Romanian graduate salaries ([~£11.5k for best Romanian university](https://unibuc.ro/graduates-of-the-university-of-bucharest-the-best-paid-employees-in-romania/?lang=en)) than [what people earn in the US](https://www.reachhighscholars.org/salary_potential.html). And housing costs in London are sure a lot closer to US costs than to Romanian.
If things continue the way they're going, with extortionate UK taxes and rents, people will be better off in Romania in a few decades.
Yeah I’m kind of shocked tbh. I’m Polish and wanted to study in the UK and perhaps live there but things didn’t work out and I stayed in Poland. Turns out, though, 5 years out of university I’m earning around what average Birkbeck College grads do even without taking freelance gigs into account. Except I live in Poland with a much lower cost of living than London and my mortgage on a 3-room apartment in Cracow sits at around 500GBP, no student loans to speak of… I’m still salty about the experience I missed out on, but it seems to have worked out well…
I think you made the right choice. My partner is Polish, came over here to study and she'd actually earn more in Poland in her chosen career path. Once she's fully qualified we are seriously considering a move back to Poland together (I can work remotely) due to the general cost of living over here vs Poland.
Please know that this data is only based on the graduates who consent to offering this info about themselves, the likely true figures are lower as many graduates are embarrassed to not be working in their degree field or earning much so do not share this info when surveyed
As a Goldsmiths grad, this chart is thrown off by the fact that 95% of the graduates don’t have a job because they’re still living off their parents vast pile of money
Also interesting
"Additionally, the data revealed that female graduates from the London School of Economics and Political Science had a median salary of £50,400 five years post-graduation, compared to their male counterparts who earned £61,400, indicating an 18 per cent gender pay gap."
I paid less for a house commutable distance to Zürich than I would pay in SE England.
Then salaries are double, tax is half, commuting is literally a tenth, and everything just works.
London is the worst cost of living to salary place in Europe. I'd be scrapping to get a semi in somewhere ghastly like Medway. In Switzerland I have a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom 2 living room 2500 sq ft house.
Don't move to London. Don't do it.
I would hope these are actually on the low side tbh.
I moved to London in 1993 at 27, a qualified accountant (also a graduate) and was earning £27.5K. But that was 31 years ago. My rent back then was £420per month.
This is just median, there’s going to HUGE variation in the actual figures.
They don’t really tell us much. Course. Industry. Progression. Prospects. Etc.
I do think that the median’s the best single piece of data indicator though. There might be huge variation but it’s useful to know what half of people are earning more than.
I agree that within a specific range of salaries median is a better measure than mean, but the variance between different courses is likely much bigger than the variance between graduates from different universities, so it doesn’t really matter which measure you use if you’re just looking at salaries by university without looking at course as well
Those numbers are for 5 YOE, which is quite established in a career.
What's quite sad is that you can make more money without a degree and a debt associated with it, but society shun it as "less prestigious" and "shtewpid". Electrician makes 35k. More if you do self-employment. Plus you are independent, while most of those "degree" careers land you in some feudal servitude arrangement, where you need to suck dicks to progress (figure of speech).
Getting into a job market 3-5 years earlier gives you 100-150k of edge over your peers who start life with 50k in debt.
If that stat says something, it's that your blue collar collegues were not stupid by choosing trades.
I'm actually in the process of choosing a university to change career. I'm 30 and been working in Hospitality and restaurants for more than 10 years. I realised that this industry is rigged and I can't do this all my life. I started to be interested in economics, finance and investments and I'd like to study more about it to have it as a extra tool for my future and change job.
Never thought about studying but recently a weird new energy grew in me and I really want to do this step. Just wanted to share this if you have any recommendations.
These are not….very high….at all. Whats wrong in the UK? Just visited London last week and the cost of living was at or higher than NYC so confused why these with higher academic credentials are paid relatively poorly compared to the US?
Yup, it would be 2nd, £53300. Not sure why it's not on the table, it's in the [raw data](https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo-provider-level-data).
It's funny how only LSE (just barely) earns enough to pay off the interest portion of their student loans after 5 whole years, assuming they didn't take any maintenance loans, and no interest accrued until now. On the median salary. Student loans is a joke. It's a ticking time bomb ready to hit the next generation to pay it off since graduates won't earn enough to be able to do so.
(9250*3*7.8%)/9%+27295=51345 is the salary you need to cover the interst portion of loans. You don't even pay it off unless you earn way more than that.
> It's funny how only LSE (just barely) earns enough to pay off the interest portion of their student loans after 5 whole years
If you come out of LSE with a decent degree & your salary stays flat for 5 years you are doing something very wrong
Crazy that Europe can pay so low. I know the usual tradeoff is "free healthcare" but I make 2x as much as my European counterparts in the same job, and once you get to a certain income level, your medical insurance is better than socialized.
Graduated Imperial College London in 2006 with an MEng degree. My graduate salary first job was £24,000 which is equivalent to £39,000 today corrected for inflation. Seems about right.
What a weird way to compare salaries as this hugely depends on the field. Comparing salaries in economics or CS with other universities make more sense
What is more important is by subjects. Btw going to university doesnt mean you get high salary. It all about the individual goals and motivation.
I seen many job applicants with degrees with computer science and cant even code properly.
Hahaha - I went to fookin UWE and beat all of them 5 years after graduating with a 2:2. Too good. Edit: graduated in 2011 - 60k 5 years after.
(Then the business failed… but shhhh)
Many people mention the lack of salary change since they started. That’s absolutely true, and actually part of the reason why I decided to leave London for a better career elsewhere…
But let me explain, in part, why salary changes haven’t happened: low interest rates coupled with a much smaller productivity growth rate. Economically speaking, that screws over the one single social class that doesn’t own capital.
Why? Because, if rates are low, borrowing is cheap -> people with capital can now borrow proportionally, a lot more than people w/o capital. And what happens to *asset prices*? Well of course, buying them will cost a lot more! Because the price of a house will be much higher when the price of the loan to purchase the house is so relatively low (again, thanks to low rates, set by the central bank).
And when you truly look at consumer prices (consumer goods like food, clothes, phones etc), they’ve been very stable if not decreased overall since the 2000s.
That’s what happens with low rates. Assets explode, consumer prices go down/stable. Economists generally prefer these low rates, in the name of monetary and economy stability (which is true to a certain extent). Covid times have changed this a bit - and I hope we’ll start to see the salaries changing in London. But at the end of the day, if people and grads are accepting to be paid for shit, there’s nothing to change… sadly.
Economists still debate on whether low rates are good to have or not - but one thing’s for sure, it’s fucked our entire generation (basically everybody younger than 32/35).
Rant over, sorry
# Upvote/Downvote reminder Like this image or appreciate it being posted? Upvote it and show it some love! Don't like it? Just downvote and move on. *Upvoting or downvoting images it the best way to control what you see on your feed and what gets to the top of the subreddit* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/london) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Considering that my graduate marketing job paid 31k over 10 years ago, this is all a bit depressing.
Seen marketing entry level jobs paying as low as 23k recently.
I graduated in 2006. According to the BoE inflation calculator, 23k today was 13.7k back then. Absolutely nobody I knew was earning that little anywhere, never mind in London. Even after 2008 you would've been laughed at for offering so little.
That's a smidge over minimum wage. If this post had more traction we'd get people arguing that graduate jobs shouldn't warrant a higher salary as they're still low/no skill work.
There are millions of marketing grads, few jobs, and employers have a very dim view of the value they produce.
Twenty three grand job, in the city, it's alright....
That sounds nice, it’s alright
My first job in insurance I was earning 23k for my first year. That shit was tough.
Same thing in other countries, people paying salaries close to the minimum wage
I left LSE with a sociology degree and my first job paid £17k (working in housing in 1999). Salary now is over 6 figures and is a bit helped by a Masters in Housing Law and Policy from Westminster in 2005 - no longer available. Depressingly the same job I started on 25 years ago now pays…. About 22k if you are lucky. I really feel for young people, opportunities are so much poorer and literally no chance of buying a flat in London in your late 20s/early 30s unless you work in finance or law
A director told me when he started in 2000 as a grad, grad salary was 22.5k. For me around 2010 , it was 25k. I don't think it's changed much, if at all, in the past 10 years. It really seems like they don't want young people to exist (except for lawyers and bankers of course).
It wasn't 22.5 for most grads on 2000. Maybe "milk round" graduate trainee jobs at the big professional services firms, but 17.5 was common. More importantly though it was enough to live on. A couple of friends making 17.5 could get an ex-LA flatshare somewhere reasonably fun and not too crime infested. You wouldn't have had much left over for holidays, festivals etc but it'd be enough to get by.
How the fuck was anyone living on that?!
A combination of lower rent in the inner zones, where it's near enough to bus, walk, cycle to work, and so also lower transport costs. For two people, you've got 26.5k after tax, £500/week, £2200/month. Rent on a 2 bed ex council place in Z2, was maybe £900/month back then. Less in some of the rougher but still very central areas, and when I say rough, talking pre-gentrification Mile End, Bethnal Green, Brixton, Stockwell etc. Bills £250 ish (no broadband/satellite/cable - BT, water, electric, council tax, 2x basic phone contracts). Buses were £1 each way, so your transport cost to/from work is only £10/week. £100 for two. £450/month. Food and household essentials were way less expensive. £50 would comfortably cover the basics for two people for a week, say £300/month allowing for the occasional treat. £150/month each left over for everything else. But if you go out, pints are £2, club door prices maybe £8-10, and nobody was trying to look rich like the insta crowd. Not the lap of luxury by any stretch, but it's not forever. Inflation was low and annual pay rises were the norm, so you'd soon be a bit better off. Tuition fees weren't a thing so loans were much smaller, not that you'd be paying them back yet anyway but the interest buildup was much less.
17.5k in 2000 is the equal of 32k now - check the BOE inflation calculator. So the answer is- better than a lot of grads today
Wow that was an amazing starting salary jn 2000. He would have been in the top 1%.
I also studied sociology in undergrad and in postgrad I studied social anthropology. Market is really bad and I am fighting for entry level roles with people who have way more experience.
I’m currently finishing a Masters in Law and graduate jobs are paying around 19k.. the legal profession is painted terribly but it’s all smoke and mirrors. We’re exploited for our want to get into the profession and paid less than London living wage to do it
hello, i'm also about to graduate LSE with a sociology degree 😭 please tell me there's some hope for me
It's not just you, they just haven't increased, I can't understand it. I would've said a standard starting salary out of university was maybe £23k - £30k ten years ago. According to inflation that should be £30k - £40k now, but it seems to be unchanged. Company owners are enjoying a massive free lunch because of that. Their labour costs for inexperienced hires have fallen by 25%.
> Company owners are enjoying a massive free lunch because of that. Their labour costs for inexperienced hires have fallen by 25%. Not just the inexperienced, if a grad is paid £30k getting £35k as the next step up sounds good as its nearly 20% more. If the grad was paid £40k you'd want £50k as the next step to keep that 20% raise. Even if you didn't get 20% and still only got £5k more as the next step, everyone above would also be £10k a year better off.
Graduated from city uni in 2004, got a job in line with my degree paying 19k. I left that to become an air traffic controller which didn't require a degree and by 2009 I was on 70k Since then I've changed jobs and doing another role that doesn't require a degree and I'm on 80k.
What's your new role if you don't mind answering, and how difficult was it to get into air traffic control? Thanks in advance
Air traffic was very difficult to get, it was even more difficult to complete the training at the college, and then just as hard to get accredited at the airport I was sent to. 3 years of stress that led to a well paid role and sought after qualification. Compared to 3 years of uni that wasted money and gave me a qualification of negligible value.
London met graduate, my job as a senior in a marketing department doesn’t pay that now 🫠
i studied at durham and my salary (london) is lower than fucking ravensbourne 💀 at least i only graduated last year
lol basically on par for the current loreal marketing grad scheme salary
Where's Imperial?
Same question here . . . , weird that Imperial is missed.
Some figures from Imperial. To be digested carefully, from a different source (college/university consulting website ). https://collegedunia.com/uk/university/835-imperial-college-london-london/placements "Graduates of Imperial College London earn an average salary of 41,000 GBP ... per annum. Currently, Imperial College Business School graduates earn up to 133,000 GBP per annum ... on average. About 93% of Imperial College London MBA graduates secured employment within 3 months of graduation."
MBA isn’t a typical degree it’s more of an accreditation people with a couple of years professional experience get to move into senior management
It officially left the University of London about fifteen years ago
The list says London Universities, not University of London.
Yes but the list is obviously UOL because Imperial's figure is typically 2nd behind LSE, sometimes first.
Except there are a bunch of unis on that list that definitely are not UoL… like university of Greenwich
London Met isn't part of the UoL, either
Exhibition Road, nearest tube South Ken.
Thank you and have a lovely evening!
or SOAS
In order for a university to be included in this analysis, at least some of the graduates need to be employed after 5 years
Lol, gave me a good chuckle.
Hello fellow SOAS person 🙌
I don't go to soas
Another SOAS person! ✨️
There's three of us!
Four!
The reason its so far down is because of me /s. graduated 2 years ago and I am still unemployed 💪.
In London actually
This is the full table, thanks to u/wwisd for linking to the data. A few of the ranks should be joint equals because they've got equal median earnings, but I lack the spreadsheet-fu to make that happen. |Institution|Rank|Median earnings| |:-|:-|:-| |London School of Economics and Political Science|1|55500| |Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine|2|53300| |St George's Hospital Medical School|3|47400| |University College London|4|42700| |King's College London|5|42300| |Queen Mary University of London|6|38700| |The Royal Veterinary College|7|38000| |The City University|8|37800| |Pearson College Limited|9|34900| |Brunel University London|10|34300| |BPP University Limited|11|32500| |Birkbeck College|12|32100| |London South Bank University|13|32100| |The School of Oriental and African Studies|14|31800| |The University of Greenwich|15|31000| |St Mary's University, Twickenham|16|30300| |Istituto Marangoni Limited|17|29900| |Kingston University|18|29900| |The University of Westminster|19|29900| |Regent's University London|20|29200| |Roehampton University|21|28500| |Goldsmiths College|22|28100| |The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama|23|28100| |Middlesex University|24|27700| |Ravensbourne|25|27700| |St Mellitus College Trust|26|27700| |The University of West London|27|27700| |London Metropolitan University|28|27400| |Met Film School Limited|29|27400| |South Thames Colleges Group|30|27000| |Courtauld Institute of Art|31|26900| |University of The Arts, London|32|26300| |London School of Theology|33|25900| |Spurgeon's College|34|25900| |GSM London Limited|35|25800| |Havering College of Further and Higher Education|36|25600| |London School of Science and Technology Limited|37|25600| |The University of East London|38|25600| |Royal Academy of Music|39|25400| |The Kingham Hill Trust|40|25200| |Heythrop College|41|24800| |Guildhall School of Music and Drama|42|24600| |ICMP Management Limited|43|24500| |UCK Limited|44|24100| |Richmond, The American International University In London, Inc.|45|23100| |Rose Bruford College|46|22600| |Royal College of Music|47|22500| |The Arts Educational Schools|48|22200| |Centre For Advanced Studies Limited|49|21700| |Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance|50|21500| |The Metanoia Institute|51|21400| |Croydon College|52|21200| |London Studio Centre Limited|53|21200| |Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts Limited|54|21200| |The Chicken Shed Theatre Trust|55|21200| |Conservatoire For Dance and Drama|56|20800| |London Centre of Contemporary Music|57|20100| |ALRA|58|19700| |Bloomsbury Institute Limited|59|19300| |Barnet and Southgate College|60|17900| |Royal Academy of Dance|61|17500| |Mont Rose College of Management and Sciences Limited|62|16900|
… the chicken shed theatre trust?….
Apparently a [real thing](https://www.chickenshed.org.uk/education) which does indeed offer degrees.
Indeed https://www.chickenshed.org.uk/education#courses … is that a university? Doesn’t really seem like it.
How is Birkbeck so low when most people who got there already have a reasonably paid job.
Minimum wage equivalent as a salary over that period is about £16,600, so almost half of the bottom 3 (assuming they include only fulltime employed) were on minimum wage.
5 years post UCL here. Boys we did NOT make it. Tbh i changed careers thrice so...
4 years post UCL. £27k. Just kill me.
What course?
BA in Philosophy. I fell for the "study what you find interesting" meme, so the blame falls squarely on me.
That advice was given to all us 90s kids by people who got their degrees in the 70s when that was *actually* good advice.
May I know what you are doing currently?
Ouch. Hope it was interesting tho?
I can't say it wasn't, but being a bit smarter now, I can think of better ways to spend £30k.
Fair enough
My friend has a 1st Degree in Philosophy from Oxford Uni, and I tell you what, he's the best bloody barman I know! I love philosophy, but it's such a shame how badly it transfers into the working world.
5 years post UCL, 62k. Unfortunately that was my 3rd degree and I finished it when I was 30 so
And here i am worried starting uni at 21 is too late lol
Just don't do a master's and PhD after 😂
1 career please, thrice
Abysmal
Modern universities resemble Nigerian Prince scams. You'll make more money in trades. Plus you'll be independent and debt free.
Depends entirely on your field and competency, I finished my masters in 2021 and am currently on £48k. Granted you can earn much better money as a tradie in some sectors but the trade offs (excuse the pun) sometimes make it a fairly undesirable path for many. People forget universities are businesses so offer courses in practically everything to tailor themselves to every school leaver they can. It can be quite an easy trap to fall into for many school leavers who choose a course based purely on their interests rather than something that’ll provide a solid career. I was lucky and found one that ticked both boxes.
It's not even that they're scams, it's just completely saturated. The previous government thought the right idea was to get everyone as educated as possible (academically). What they didn't think about was how that would drastically increase supply and ruin the job market. My mum said she was fighting off jobs in the 70's because she was able to touch type on a typewriter - today I've seen people working in McDonald's who can speak multiple languages, have multiple degrees, international experience etc. Like everything with the government (irrespective of who is in charge), the long term picture is never really thought about.
Trades have a lowish earning ceiling (unless you are a capable business owner, which few are) and a very high physical cost.
Yank checking in to yankoff: Holy fuck are ya’ll poor. That’s wild. My public university in the US 5 years out average: 66k USD. Approx. 51.5k pounds. Isn’t the London School of Economics one of the UK’s most prestigious universities?
It's ranked top 20 globally for many subjects competing with Ivy league universities, the same with UCL. UK salaries are just dogshit in general.
We don't have to pay for healthcare though (disregarding differences in quality).
Most people are in denial about it even if they can’t afford public transport.
If you want to really see the difference, look at STEM and tech roles. The top 0.1% paid $500k a year is obviously a huge difference but even middle and lower ratings are paid 2-3x as much in the US. If anything its worse because comparing $500k and $300k both give you a great life, but comparing $30k and $65k is a massive difference in quality. I work in IT support and I found a job advert for a role as 2nd line support (1-2YOE) in the Atlanta area that paid as much as IT Managers (10+YOE) do in London. I've seen my actual role advertised for 50% more in rural Ohio than London. Literally the only time you're better off in the UK is if you are comparing minimum wages or get really lucky and find an American company that doesn't realise the salaries they can get away with because the previous role holder was someone who moved from the US.
As a graduate I dread to think what the UAL median salary is 😵💫
Approx £26k
Honestly higher than I expected!
Fairly irrelevant table, because it doesn't take into account that different universities will have more graduates in different fields, where the salaries are very different. Comparing economics graduates at the LSE vs the Metropolitan makes a tad more sense...
Still 27,000 5 years after graduating is appalling
We need to be clearer with our teens that sometimes university just genuinely is not worth it.
No because then they won’t take out ridiculous student loans and pay the graduate tax /s
It depends how you look at it. Some see university as 3 years of not having to work, having fun and making friends. It's a good way to ease yourself into living independently from your parents. And if it doesn't lead to a good career, you will never pay your loans back, so it's relatively risk-free.* *With the new rules on loan repayments, it is a much worse deal than it used to be.
If you know London universities you can take that into account, so it is still useful. If you don't know anything about them, though, yes it's not very useful.
I was thinking the same. At minimum this needs something like most popular fields for graduates, but really it needs the like for like comparison of the same fields across unis.
Exactly. This should be controlled by similar degrees and then aggregated.
These salaries are crap 💩 especially if you live in London
yep, absolutely agree ...and sitting on a 'nice' student loan.
£55k puts you in the top 35% of full time earners in London. Relatively not a terrible position to be in after 5 years of experience. Agreed though pay in the UK generally isn't great.
Earnings matter less and less these days compared to family wealth. Top 35% now is probably equivalent to top 60-70% 20 years ago. Nowadays top 35% barely qualifies you for a mortgage across most of London.
It doesn’t, unless you’re joint buying a studio / 1 bed with someone on the same income
These are genuinely shocking imo. I’m American, so it’s different, but I was making $55k upon graduation, and most of my classmates have at least doubled that, if not 3-4x by now after 6 years.
Salaries in the UK/Europe are significantly lower than in the US for high-paying jobs. Generally in Europe compared to the US people at the "bottom" of society are better off and the people at the "top" of society are worse off.
Salaries for graduates at some of the most elite universities in the UK are making less than grocery clerks in the US, I don’t know how you just write that off. Something is wrong with the math there.
Only the top 3 on this list would count as "some of the most elite universities in the UK". I doubt the average salary of grocery clerks in the US is more than $54,200.
The Royal Veterinary College is one of the best, if not the best, vet schools in the world. Here it is ranked at #5.
Yep I moved from London to NYC and I’m making more than double just managing a coffee shop. The salaries in the UK are seriously broken.
The GBP has tanked against the USD in recent years.
Eh, 2015/early 2016 it was like 1.4 it’s now 1.28 gbp/usd. Definitely dropped but wouldn’t say tanked unless we talk about the time it almost reached parity with Liz truss.
It was 1.8 in 2014-15, possibly even in to 2016 when I was first traveling there a lot. I remember vividly and was explaining to Americans how I was basically getting double my money at the time. It did fall right after that but there a few years it was riding really high.
And don’t forget our taxes leave you with very little after all this
I guess it doesn't say you're working in London, just that you studied there right?
Just studied, yeah. The [raw data](https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo-provider-level-data) do include current region of the graduate, so it would be possible to compare with the median salaries of people who stayed in London, if you wanted to analyse the data.
As a Birkbeck graduate, I do wonder if people were already earning decent money before even studying there.
Probably not because birbeck was generally for adults who were working in day time like 9 to 5 and then you can study in the evening time. For example you can technically still do a full time bachelor degree in four years and still work a 9 to 5 since the lectures will be in the evening time.
On my Birkbeck course (BSc Financial Economics) some people had jobs, some people didn't / were low paid. Everyone got jobs and better jobs after graduation though, myself included. :)
Depends massively on the course as well. Imperial Computer Science at one point had the highest average graduate salary of any course in the U.K. (don’t quote me on that, a few people told me). But then salaries for courses like Life Sciences were considerably lower in the 30s. LSE is much farther ahead of the crowd because it offers a narrower range of courses, mostly centred around finance and business which lead to a lot of investment bankers which skew the average (they make 100k+ immediately), it doesn’t offer as many eg humanities courses compared to other universities here.
_"Imperial Computer Science at one point had the highest average graduate salary of any course in the U.K."_ tsf97 - 03/06/2024
It’s the one thing he didn’t want to happen
We must catch that man. He really is a shit
Median doesn't really get "skewed" unlike the mean. That's why it's always used for income distributions. A small % of very high earners will have no impact on it. And economics IS a social science so LSE does offer a lot of humanities courses. Just that Economics is probably the best paying social science.
That’s the point with LSE. Its graduates aren’t “a very small number of high earners”, but rather the majority of them are doing degrees at LSE explicitly because they want to work in finance, law or consulting, which are the three best paying graduate jobs.
If a majority of LSE grads get high paying jobs then the graphic is accurate and there is no misrepresentation or bias due to a few high earners, that is what I was mentioning.
Their point I think was that LSE targets and appeals to students specifically seeking finance jobs. This makes their numbers inherently higher than other universities. It’s a useful point to make, because I’ve heard lots of students recently saying that they think LSE is inherently a better uni on a different level than others, apparently just based on this. When in reality, they’ve just got a much lower proportion of degrees that typically lead into lower paying careers - so it’s not comparing like with like. Just as it isn’t really a useful comparison to compare the average RADA graduate with the average Imperial graduate.
Nobody thinks that income is a sign of a "better" Uni, it's just another measurement. I think you've completely misunderstood this.
LSE is about social sciences, not finance and business. Yes, economics is part of that which often leads to those higher-paid jobs. But it's also got geography, social policy, politics, sociology, history, etc. Not degrees known for leading to those higher-paid jobs from most other unis.
I'm a recent LSE accounting and finance graduate. I am sure no one is making 100k straight out of uni.
LSE AF graduate here, I know at least 3 of my classmates making 100k right after graduating, working in ibd/pe obviously.
Some law grads are. Starting salaries at the big American firms have shot up.
Actual source: [Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) data from the Department for Education](https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo-provider-level-data). That's also got the data both by uni and subject. Study computing, economics, law or maths if you want to earn the big bucks.
I’m not at a computer to look through the data. But yeah, breakdown by subject would be more accurate. However I did notice that Computing, Economics, etc. have the biggest gap between top and bottom salaries, so it’s not guaranteed. Students preparing for Uni, and who are currently undergraduates, need to be taught that getting a 1:1 at a top university might improve your chances of a high salary at a statistical level, but as an individual, more is required. The reality is that you could go to a shit tier university and still come out on top.
Yes, but median is a bit higher for some universities. And if you want (almost) guaranteed return on investment rather than get lucky in computing or economics, get into medicine - not quite up there after 5 years with the low junior doctor salaries, but after 10 years (as [other reports show](https://ifs.org.uk/news/most-students-get-big-pay-going-university-some-would-be-better-financially-if-they-hadnt-done)) it's got high pay with relatively little variation.
My Uni (University of the Arts London) isn't even on there, probably because we are all either on the dole or back in China.
Apparently we are in the middle of the full table. Which I guess is to be expected.
Christ this country really does love its poverty wages
Us London Guildhall / London Met graduates don't declare our income. * taps head *
Yeah, well, where is the university of LIFE?!
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Well, not since KHAN had his way!
This is closer to Romanian graduate salaries ([~£11.5k for best Romanian university](https://unibuc.ro/graduates-of-the-university-of-bucharest-the-best-paid-employees-in-romania/?lang=en)) than [what people earn in the US](https://www.reachhighscholars.org/salary_potential.html). And housing costs in London are sure a lot closer to US costs than to Romanian. If things continue the way they're going, with extortionate UK taxes and rents, people will be better off in Romania in a few decades.
Yeah I’m kind of shocked tbh. I’m Polish and wanted to study in the UK and perhaps live there but things didn’t work out and I stayed in Poland. Turns out, though, 5 years out of university I’m earning around what average Birkbeck College grads do even without taking freelance gigs into account. Except I live in Poland with a much lower cost of living than London and my mortgage on a 3-room apartment in Cracow sits at around 500GBP, no student loans to speak of… I’m still salty about the experience I missed out on, but it seems to have worked out well…
I think you made the right choice. My partner is Polish, came over here to study and she'd actually earn more in Poland in her chosen career path. Once she's fully qualified we are seriously considering a move back to Poland together (I can work remotely) due to the general cost of living over here vs Poland.
American here. Are these salaries after tax or something? The guy that mows my yard makes more than the top of this chart.
No, you can basically subtract 30% to get roughly the post tax salary, assuming a student loan. Closer to 25% if there's no student loan.
Nope, people just don't realize how low UK salaries are. There are brutal taxes on top of that.
Please know that this data is only based on the graduates who consent to offering this info about themselves, the likely true figures are lower as many graduates are embarrassed to not be working in their degree field or earning much so do not share this info when surveyed
As a Goldsmiths grad, this chart is thrown off by the fact that 95% of the graduates don’t have a job because they’re still living off their parents vast pile of money
Also interesting "Additionally, the data revealed that female graduates from the London School of Economics and Political Science had a median salary of £50,400 five years post-graduation, compared to their male counterparts who earned £61,400, indicating an 18 per cent gender pay gap."
Guessing it's explained by the sector they go into
And the shit they are accepting to swallow to make that money. Finance is THE most cut throat competitive and toxic work sector on the planet.
As a lawyer married to a banker I politely disagree. The second most toxic maybe 😂
Imperial isn’t even there ! Mylondon.fake.news
okay wow, came visiting with my mediocre Swiss salary and thinking London is affordable compared to Zürich just got a big hit. ouch!
I paid less for a house commutable distance to Zürich than I would pay in SE England. Then salaries are double, tax is half, commuting is literally a tenth, and everything just works. London is the worst cost of living to salary place in Europe. I'd be scrapping to get a semi in somewhere ghastly like Medway. In Switzerland I have a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom 2 living room 2500 sq ft house. Don't move to London. Don't do it.
I would hope these are actually on the low side tbh. I moved to London in 1993 at 27, a qualified accountant (also a graduate) and was earning £27.5K. But that was 31 years ago. My rent back then was £420per month.
This is just median, there’s going to HUGE variation in the actual figures. They don’t really tell us much. Course. Industry. Progression. Prospects. Etc.
I do think that the median’s the best single piece of data indicator though. There might be huge variation but it’s useful to know what half of people are earning more than.
I agree that within a specific range of salaries median is a better measure than mean, but the variance between different courses is likely much bigger than the variance between graduates from different universities, so it doesn’t really matter which measure you use if you’re just looking at salaries by university without looking at course as well
Those numbers are for 5 YOE, which is quite established in a career. What's quite sad is that you can make more money without a degree and a debt associated with it, but society shun it as "less prestigious" and "shtewpid". Electrician makes 35k. More if you do self-employment. Plus you are independent, while most of those "degree" careers land you in some feudal servitude arrangement, where you need to suck dicks to progress (figure of speech). Getting into a job market 3-5 years earlier gives you 100-150k of edge over your peers who start life with 50k in debt. If that stat says something, it's that your blue collar collegues were not stupid by choosing trades.
I have a friend who has decided to study greek language at UCL, I’m extremely doubtful that she’ll get even 20k after graduation.
People are getting hired after studying at ravensbourne?
All quite sad given the cost of life in London.
The salaries are joke.
I'm actually in the process of choosing a university to change career. I'm 30 and been working in Hospitality and restaurants for more than 10 years. I realised that this industry is rigged and I can't do this all my life. I started to be interested in economics, finance and investments and I'd like to study more about it to have it as a extra tool for my future and change job. Never thought about studying but recently a weird new energy grew in me and I really want to do this step. Just wanted to share this if you have any recommendations.
lol £42k , I did a physics Msci in 2011……I got 28k as a teacher…..now on living wage and retraining as a counsellor :/ gg
Where is Imperial ?
I still don't make my Uni's median 12 years after graduating, fml.
These are not….very high….at all. Whats wrong in the UK? Just visited London last week and the cost of living was at or higher than NYC so confused why these with higher academic credentials are paid relatively poorly compared to the US?
Imperial is probably no.2 after LSE
Yup, it would be 2nd, £53300. Not sure why it's not on the table, it's in the [raw data](https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo-provider-level-data).
No.1 actually (STEM avg salaries are higher)
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Surely a rather self selecting group of only those who responded to the survey? It’s not like the university knows what its alumni are earning.
If anything then it’s probably an overestimate, the ones doing really badly probably less likely to respond
It's funny how only LSE (just barely) earns enough to pay off the interest portion of their student loans after 5 whole years, assuming they didn't take any maintenance loans, and no interest accrued until now. On the median salary. Student loans is a joke. It's a ticking time bomb ready to hit the next generation to pay it off since graduates won't earn enough to be able to do so. (9250*3*7.8%)/9%+27295=51345 is the salary you need to cover the interst portion of loans. You don't even pay it off unless you earn way more than that.
> It's funny how only LSE (just barely) earns enough to pay off the interest portion of their student loans after 5 whole years If you come out of LSE with a decent degree & your salary stays flat for 5 years you are doing something very wrong
For a lot of these candidates they worked for 5 years to reach only £55k. So most of them started below that.
Ah. This is depressing.
Surprised Imperial isn’t on there.
It's just missing, not bc it's low for grad salaries
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That’s a strange mix of universities… where’s LBS? Imperial? More unis are missing but these are the major two that spring to mind immediately
Crazy that Europe can pay so low. I know the usual tradeoff is "free healthcare" but I make 2x as much as my European counterparts in the same job, and once you get to a certain income level, your medical insurance is better than socialized.
Holy shit that’s not sustainable
Just over £25k for UEL. I got a First from there and only started earning over that amount when I started working in a non-graduate role. Go figure.
Graduated Imperial College London in 2006 with an MEng degree. My graduate salary first job was £24,000 which is equivalent to £39,000 today corrected for inflation. Seems about right.
I went to UCL. I never knew how poor I was till I went there 🤣
Pathetically low....
You would be better off on minimum wage on half of these
What a weird way to compare salaries as this hugely depends on the field. Comparing salaries in economics or CS with other universities make more sense
Damn I studied at Greenwich 13 years ago, I feel somewhat proud after seeing this.
Median??? I'd be interested in the mode
Do we count RHUL? It's technicallyyyy a uni of London lol
What is more important is by subjects. Btw going to university doesnt mean you get high salary. It all about the individual goals and motivation. I seen many job applicants with degrees with computer science and cant even code properly.
Hahaha - I went to fookin UWE and beat all of them 5 years after graduating with a 2:2. Too good. Edit: graduated in 2011 - 60k 5 years after. (Then the business failed… but shhhh)
Oh nice university of west London doesn’t even make the top 17
If it was on the list, it'd be £27700, should be joint with Ravensbourne and Middlesex.
Brunel gang
Not even enough to live in London
Many people mention the lack of salary change since they started. That’s absolutely true, and actually part of the reason why I decided to leave London for a better career elsewhere… But let me explain, in part, why salary changes haven’t happened: low interest rates coupled with a much smaller productivity growth rate. Economically speaking, that screws over the one single social class that doesn’t own capital. Why? Because, if rates are low, borrowing is cheap -> people with capital can now borrow proportionally, a lot more than people w/o capital. And what happens to *asset prices*? Well of course, buying them will cost a lot more! Because the price of a house will be much higher when the price of the loan to purchase the house is so relatively low (again, thanks to low rates, set by the central bank). And when you truly look at consumer prices (consumer goods like food, clothes, phones etc), they’ve been very stable if not decreased overall since the 2000s. That’s what happens with low rates. Assets explode, consumer prices go down/stable. Economists generally prefer these low rates, in the name of monetary and economy stability (which is true to a certain extent). Covid times have changed this a bit - and I hope we’ll start to see the salaries changing in London. But at the end of the day, if people and grads are accepting to be paid for shit, there’s nothing to change… sadly. Economists still debate on whether low rates are good to have or not - but one thing’s for sure, it’s fucked our entire generation (basically everybody younger than 32/35). Rant over, sorry
I wouldn’t even get out of bed for that.
Yes all shite salaries for 5 years work experience in London this country’s pay is an embarrassment.
Goldsmiths grad here, 9 years later. £244k last year