Where governments publish graduate earnings by course
The countries whose governments match graduate records to tax or social-insurance records and publish earnings by subject — and the countries where no such dataset was found at all.
This is the single best thing you can read about a degree, and Chapter 7 explains why it beats everything else available. It is not a survey and not a salary website: it is the tax authority's own record of what people who took that course went on to earn.
| Country | Dataset | Publisher | What is matched | Detail | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Longitudinal Education Outcomes | Education department with the tax and welfare authorities | Education records against tax records | Subject and institution | yes |
| United States | College Scorecard, field-of-study data | Education department with the federal tax authority | Student-aid records against tax filings | Field and institution, for students who took federal aid | yes |
| Canada | Education and labour market longitudinal platform | National statistics agency | Post-secondary records against tax files | Field, credential and province | yes |
| France | Graduate insertion statistics | Higher-education ministry statistical service | Student records against employer social declarations | Subject and institution | yes |
| Chile | Futuro Laboral | Higher-education undersecretariat with the tax service | Graduate records against tax declarations, whole population | Around 264 courses, by institution | yes |
| Colombia | Labour observatory for education | National education ministry | Graduate records against social-security contributions | Field and level | yes |
| Netherlands | Register-based education outcomes | National statistics office, for the education ministry | Education records against population and income registers | Field of study, and higher vocational against university | yes |
| Ireland | Higher education outcomes | National statistics office with the higher education authority | Graduate records against tax and benefit records | Field, institution, qualification level | yes |
| New Zealand | Integrated data infrastructure publications | Tertiary education commission, on the national statistics infrastructure | Tertiary records against tax-year income | Subject and level, at one, three, five, seven and nine years | yes |
| Poland | Graduate economic outcomes | Government research institute, for the science ministry | Higher education records against social insurance records | Institution and individual programme | yes |
| Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland | National register systems | The four national statistics offices | Education records against income and employer-declaration registers | Field; Denmark also publishes median pay by programme | yes |
Markets where none was found
This is a statement about the search, not proof that nothing exists. Where there is a nearest equivalent, it is named — and it is usually much weaker.
| Country | Nearest thing to it |
|---|---|
| India | Institution-reported placement medians and an enrolment census. Both are self-reported by the institution being judged. |
| Nigeria | Nothing comparable found. |
| Pakistan | Nothing comparable found. |
| Bangladesh | Nothing comparable found. |
| Indonesia | Nothing comparable found. |
| Vietnam | Nothing comparable found. |
| Philippines | Nothing comparable found. |
| Egypt | Nothing comparable found. |
| Kenya | Nothing comparable found. |
| Ukraine | Nothing comparable found. |
| Turkey | Nothing comparable found. |
| Argentina | Nothing comparable found. |
| South Africa | Nothing comparable found. |
| Mexico | A labour observatory publishes graduate outcomes, but it is not matched to tax records. |
| Brazil | A national employment register exists. Whether it supports earnings by course was not established. |
| Australia | A national graduate survey. Good, but a survey, so people who do not answer are missing. It does publish computing separately, which most systems in the table above do not: the median computing and information systems graduate in full-time work earned A$75,300 a year, measured four to six months after finishing, against A$75,000 across all study areas. Read that as a starting salary and not a career one. |
| Singapore | A graduate employment survey run by the universities themselves. |