Men with arts degrees earn ‘less than those with none’

MEN who study art, English and philosophy at university earn on average less at the age of 29 than those without a degree.

New data exposes how many arts and humanities courses produce negative returns.

The worst return is for men studying creative arts, who earn on average 14 per cent less than non-graduate peers.

For English it is 7 per cent less and for philosophy, 4 per cent less.

There are better returns for women – but only because they are normally so disadvantaged in the labour market in general.

The report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) will reignite the debate over whether some degree courses really are worth the time and effort. As the study of 1,400 courses nationwide was published, Westminster universities minister Sam Gyimah warned courses failing to provide ‘value for money’ will have to ‘improve or delist’.

One university from the elite Russell Group is producing no return for men – with earnings the same as those who have no degree, while 12 institutions produced negative returns overall for men; for women it was two.

The study links degree information with government tax data, taking a snapshot of annual earnings at the age of 29 of graduates and non-graduates.

It found that overall, a degree does produce a premium – of £6,200 per year for women and £2,000 for men. That is 26 per cent for women and 6 per cent for men.

Chris Belfield, research economist at the IFS, said of the low-return subjects: ‘It could be the skills that these courses teach are less well-rewarded.

‘However, it could be that graduates of these subjects simply choose to go in to occupations that have lower earnings on average. In some cases we can see different universities offering the same subject but with very different impacts on their students’ earnings.

‘Understanding what universities are doing that drives these different returns is very important for future research.

‘Some subjects, including creative arts, have relatively low returns.

‘However, studying these subjects may be the right decision for some – particularly if they want to be an artist.’