The UK does something no other country in this series does: instead of asking graduates what they earn, the government reads it from their tax records. That dataset is LEO — Longitudinal Education Outcomes, published by the Department for Education by linking student records to HMRC. Alongside it sits HESA’s Graduate Outcomes survey, which reaches graduates 15 months out. LEO breaks results out by Level 7 (master’s) and by subject — including Business & management, the closest official match to a MiM — so you get real pay, by the right cohort, with no self-report inflation.
What the first job actually pays
Here is the table, and it is unusually trustworthy because it comes from tax data. Median gross annual earnings for Level 7 (taught) master’s graduates:
| Level 7 master’s, median gross | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business & management | £33,900 | £40,900 | £50,400 |
| Economics | £36,100 | £47,400 | £55,100 |
| All subjects | £29,900 | £34,300 | £38,000 |
A business and management master’s starts at £33,900 and reaches £50,400 by year five — a steep, real slope, and economics runs several thousand pounds ahead of it the whole way. One warning for anyone comparing degrees: the same LEO dataset shows MBA graduates at £69,700 in year one, but an MBA is a post-experience degree taken years into a career — a different product from a MiM, and not a fair comparison. The MiM vs MBA post unpacks that distinction.
Employment: high-skilled, with one soft spot
On the jobs side, LEO shows 77.1 percent of business and management master’s graduates in sustained employment one year out, and HESA’s survey puts 88 percent of all graduates in work or further study at 15 months, with 76 percent in high-skilled jobs. The Chartered Association of Business Schools, analysing the same HESA data, found 80 percent of postgraduate business and management leavers in highly-skilled roles — on par with the all-subject average. The soft spot the data is honest about: business and management carried an 8 percent unemployment rate at 15 months, the highest among non-science subjects, a reflection of how many graduates chase a crowded set of London roles.
Two findings the survey data adds
The Chartered ABS report surfaces two things worth knowing. First, business and management produces more graduate business-founders than any other subject — around 18 percent of postgraduate leavers were running their own business. Second, London retention is the highest of any region: 69 percent of business and management graduates who start work in London stay in London, against 64 percent across all subjects. The capital is both the magnet and the ceiling.
The gender gap, and what the UK doesn’t tell you
HESA found male graduates earning a median about £2,000 more than female graduates 15 months out, with the gap widest in high-skilled roles. Note the limit: LEO does not publish a male-versus-female earnings split for master’s or for business and management — only for first-degree graduates — so the cleanest UK gender figure is HESA’s all-graduate one.
And the bigger gap in the data itself: the UK publishes no permanent-versus-temporary contract breakdown for graduates. It is the one standard outcome — central to the French and Irish numbers — that you simply cannot get for the UK. A UK benchmark is pay and employment, full stop.
How to read this for your own decision
A UK MiM, especially in business and management or economics, gives you the most credible salary data in Europe — actual tax records, by the right level and subject, across five years — and the slope is genuinely steep. The trade-offs the data shows are a competitive entry market (that 8 percent unemployment), no contract-security figure to lean on, and a strong pull toward London, where the jobs and the cost of living both concentrate.
For the live, school-by-school version, the MiM careers page for the UK tracks each program’s outcomes and the Graduate Route visa rules. Read it next to Ireland, the other English-speaking market and the one place you can get a contract figure, and the French CGE breakdown. If you are still weighing the format, MiM vs MBA is the next read, and is the MiM worth it in 2026 covers the payback math.
Sources: Department for Education, “LEO graduate and postgraduate outcomes”, tax year 2022-23 — median gross annual earnings from HMRC records, by qualification level and subject. HESA, “Higher Education Graduate Outcomes Statistics 2022/23” (15 months after graduation). Chartered Association of Business Schools, “Graduate Outcomes in Business & Management” (analysis of HESA data). All earnings are gross.