It’s official, these are the highest UK graduate starting salaries in 2023

The average graduate starting salary from the country’s top employers is expected to rise for the second year in a row, by £1,500 from last year to £33,500 in 2023.

Every year, High Fliers Research takes an in-depth look at graduate recruitment at the UK’s top unis and employers. The Highfliers Graduate Market in 2023 report looks at The Times top 100 graduate employers, including everything from Apple and TikTok, to the BBC and Sky, to Deloitte and PwC.

It found that over half of the country’s leading graduate employers are increasing their pay for grads this year, by up to 10 per cent more than last year. Nine employers are offering their grads eye-watering starting salaries of over £50k.

The highest-paying sector for grads is – shock – investment banking, with an average starting salary of £55,000. Following this is the £50,000 average starting salary for trainee solicitors at the country’s top law firms.

Outside of banking and law, the highest grad starting salaries this year are at Aldi, with a £50,000 starting salary for its trainee area manager programme, and technology company TPP, which also offers grads salaries of up to £50,000. Not too shabby!

The report notes that if the average starting salary paid by employers 10 years ago, £29,000, had kept up with inflation since then, it would now be around £39,000 – considerably higher than this year’s average graduate starting salary of £33,500.

Highfliers also found the universities the top 100 graduate employers target the most for grad jobs – click here to see.

Here are the 2023 graduate salaries at the UK’s top employers, broken down by industry and ranked from highest to lowest:

1. Investment banking – £55,000

2. Law – £50,000

3. Consulting – £47,500

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4. Banking and finance – £40,000

5. Retailing – £37,000

6. Oil and energy – £35,000

7. Accounting and professional services – £35,000

8. Chemical and pharmaceuticals – £32,000

9. Consumer goods – £32,000

10. Engineering ad industrial – £29,000

11. Armed forces – £28,300

12. Media – £27,500

13. Public sector – £26,400

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