It follows that those who have a propensity to go to college and to major in a STEM field and then actually do so could expect to earn the uncorrected lifetime earnings premium.
In fact, the department noted, "at some schools, the data suggest that students cannot expect that a college certificate or degree will create an earnings premium" relative to what a typical high school graduate earns.
Over their lifetimes, graduates with majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can expect to earn far more than high school graduates with no college attendance, with an earnings premium of $1.5 million over and above the $1.73 million that high school graduates with no college attendance can expect to earn.
The earnings premium for a PhD is 26%.
And most studies suggest that even in these tough economic conditions the graduate earnings premium is holding up well.
Chakrabortty then suggests that Willetts misled the public by recalculating the graduate earnings premium from £400,000 to £100,000 in 2010.
The latest Graduate Labour Market Statistics (from March this year) suggest that university can still be a valuable investment, with graduates gaining an average earnings premium of £9,000 per year.
Another study, for the Welsh Assembly, estimated the earnings premium at more than 10%.There is a message here for other linguistic nationalists, from the Québécois to the Basques.
Since 2006, the graduate earnings premium has fallen from 55% higher, to around 45% higher than the earnings of non-graduates.
A Department for Education spokesperson said graduates still enjoyed higher employment rates and an average £9,500 annual earnings premium compared to non-graduates.
