Postsecondary students in Canada 10 years after graduation
Description: Postsecondary students in Canada 10 years after graduation
Graduates with an undergraduate degree or higher had higher growth in median employment earnings between 2 and 10Note 1 years after graduation than college certificate and diploma holders.
Educational qualification | Median earnings after 2 years | Median earnings after 10 years | Relative growth |
---|---|---|---|
College certificate | $38,800 | $43,900 | 13.1% |
College diploma | $43,100 | $52,900 | 22.7% |
Undergraduate degree | $49,900 | $71,800 | 43.9% |
Professional degreeNote 2 | $85,200 | $111,800 | 31.2% |
Master’s degree | $70,600 | $89,700 | 27.1% |
Doctoral degree | $67,400 | $101,600 | 50.7% |
Graduates of master’s and doctoral BHASE programs had higher median employment earnings than their counterparts from STEM programs 2 years after graduation. Ten years after graduation, the earnings gap had closed.
Start of text boxSTEM:
- Science
- Technology
- Engineering
- Mathematics and computer sciences
BHASE:
- Business
- Health
- Arts and humanities
- Social science
- Education; legal studies; trades, services, natural resources and conservation
Educational qualification | Field of study | Median earnings after 2 years | Median earnings after 10 years |
---|---|---|---|
Master’s degree | STEM | $67,100 | $91,100 |
Master’s degree | BHASE | $71,600 | $89,300 |
Doctoral degree | STEM | $60,300 | $101,600 |
Doctoral degree | BHASE | $73,800 | $101,800 |
Nearly half (45.5%) of undergraduate degree holders returned to school full-time within 10 years of graduation, the large majority of whom (90.4%) returned within 5 years.
- 54.5% did not return to school full-time within 10 years of graduation.
- 41.1% returned to school full-time within 5 years of graduation.
- 4.4% returned to school full-time between 6 and 10 years after graduation.
Source: Statistics Canada, table 37-10-0218-01 - Characteristics and median employment income of longitudinal cohorts of postsecondary graduates two, five and ten years after graduation, by educational qualification and field of study (STEM and BHASE (non-STEM) groupings).
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