Graduate Salary Data, Part 2

Technorati tags: graduate salaries,degrees,universities

This time of year is the Time Of The Salary Survey. First, we had a survey from High Fliers. Now, it's time for Incomes Data Services to publish their annual winter round-up. They say that the average starting salary for graduates with a "top degree" was £21,415 in 2005 and was expected to rise to £21,688 this year, and that graduates employed three years ago were now earning around £32,000.

Of course, all the provisos I mentioned for the High Fliers survey apply equally for IDS. This survey deals with companies which are predominantly London-based financial services organisations, and as such do not represent the large majority of graduate employers. Next week, the triumvirate will be completed as the Association of Graduate Recruiters release their own survey, which will say almost exactly the same thing, and thus reinforce false perceptions of what graduates ought to expect to earn when they leave university.

These surveys are interesting, but they are a small part of the picture.