You’re probably earning more if you studied these subjects
When it comes to studying at university, some degrees will give you a greater pay off than others in your career.
Ten years after graduating, it's medicine, unsurprisingly, where people earn the most. But, close behind, it's the economics grads bringing home the bacon.
Doctors and other medical related workers took home on average £55,300 for men, and £45,400 for women. Economics grads meanwhile, landed £42,000 if they were male and £38,200 if they were female a decade on, according to analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
Read more: Parental income has an effect on what you earn when you graduate
However, more economics grads were likely to go on and earn more than £100,000 compared to medicine. For men, 12 per cent of economics grads were earning the six figure salary versus six per cent in medicine, while for women that was nine per cent versus just one per cent.
Those who studied business didn't fare quite as well. They were the tenth biggest earners, with a £26,500 salary for men and £22,000 for women.
Ahead of business degrees were subjects such as architecture and education, while engineering and law were the second and third most lucrative subjects, but business grads landed more than grads who studied languages and veterinary sciences.
| Subject | Women | Men |
| Medicine | £45,400 | £55,300 |
| Economics | £38,200 | £42,000 |
| Engineering and technology | £23,200 | £31,200 |
| Law | £26,200 | £30,100 |
| Physical sciences | £24,800 | £29,800 |
| Education | £24,400 | £29,600 |
| Architecture | £22,500 | £28,600 |
| Maths and computer science | £22,000 | £26,800 |
| Business | £22,000 | £26,500 |
| History and philosophy | £23,200 | £26,500 |
| Social sciences | £20,500 | £26,200 |
| Biological sciences | £23,800 | £25,200 |
| European languages and literature | £26,400 | £25,000 |
| Linguistics and classics | £23,200 | £24,100 |
| Veterinary and agriculture | £18,900 | £21,400 |
| Mass communication | £18,100 | £19,300 |
| Creative arts | £14,500 | £17,900 |
And it's poor old arts students who are earning the least a decade after finishing university, taking home £17,900 and £14,500 for men and women, respectively. They went on to earn no more, on average, than those who had not gone to university.
The study also found, however, that the income of parents influences future earnings, even for students who study the same subject. Read more.
“The research illustrates strongly that for most graduates, higher education leads to much better earnings than those earned by non-graduates, although students need to realise that their subject choice is important in determining how much of an earnings advantage they will have,” said Anna Vignoles of the University of Cambridge and co-author of the study.