The average salary in blue chip companies is �21,000, up 3.4% from �20,300 last year.

But those starting work in the public sector are considerably lower; �19,700 on average.

The number of graduate vacancies also increased, by 15.5%. It was the first year-on-year rise since 2001.

What's your starting salary? Can you afford to live? Or are you living at home to help make ends meet? Do these salaries realistically allow you to pay off your student debt? Has it been relatively easy to get a job?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

Your comments:

A relative with no degree earns twice my salary Marion, Cardiff

I am a research scientist with a PhD earning �29,000 after 18 years in the job. A new graduate (with a doctorate) would earn �19,400 today. I think I'm in the wrong job - a relative with no degree earns twice my salary as an administrator in a private company!
Marion, Cardiff

I find it amazing that people are surprised by the results of this survey. Of course our incompetent government is going to 'massage' these figures in exactly the same way that they do to encourage students into university to disguise unemployment figures. They are now dangling a carrot that can never be reached. As an engineering graduate in my second year of work I am still nowhere near these starting salaries.
Rich, Norfolk

I had to leave university after 2 years at the age of 21 because I simply couldn't afford to continue. A couple of months later I started working for my local council doing data entry for �5 an hour. At the end of those 6 months I was kept on and promoted and now make �28K PA at 23. I worked hard and showed my employer what I was capable of achieving and it paid off. My friends that I would have graduated with had I stayed at university are right now looking for their first jobs and are dismayed by the starting offers of 15-17K. If that's all you can get - take it, get your foot in the door, work hard, impress your bosses and climb the corporate ladder!
David, UK

When I graduated in 1997 I managed to secure a salary of �19k. This hardly changed for a number of years and it was only when I graduated with a Masters in Business Admin. that my salary took off, going from �30k to over �60k now. Bachelors degrees are no longer worth the paper they are written on! From my experience, a Master's is the minimum requirement now for a successful graduate, and for those who really want to progress, then two masters degrees or a doctorate are required!
Paul B, London, UK

I ended up going back to university to study a more up to date course to Masters level Harry, Birmingham

I graduated from a top university with a good degree in Classics. However after trying to find a job with that background I ended up going back to university to study a more up to date course to Masters level. I now work in a chartered profession as a newly qualified surveyor and earn a respectable salary. If students thought more about their future then they would realise that having a degree does not necessarily entitle them to a good job. Students need to realise this otherwise they will end up disillusioned and out of work.
Harry, Birmingham

I graduated in 1996. I started by working full time in a book shop, which paid just under �9,000. This wasn't even enough for my girlfriend and I to pay for a 1 bedroom flat, even with her earning over �12,000. 6 months later, I got a lucky break through a family friend who worked for a local IT firm. I took the job starting at the very bottom handling returns and faulty goods, picked up a small pay rise and started working on my IT skills. I now earn just over �40,000 a year, plus the odd bonus. I finished paying off my student loan this April. My wife is still paying off hers. We have a mortgage and a young son. Whilst my degree has been of no use whatsoever in my current field, it does make a difference to the way people perceive you.
Hans, Chessington, England

No degree, my first office job at age 18 paid �12,000. Nine years on I'm earning three times that, still no degree and no student debts to worry about. Shame I have spent half that time having to train graduates who are completely unable to put any of their precious theory into practice, yet insist on getting paid more than me simply because they have letters after their name.
Jennifer, Netherlands, ex UK

I graduated with a good degree in Computer Science 3 years ago. It took me about 3 months to find a job paying 18k and am slowly but surely paying off my debts and am doing quite well for myself. All this, however, was simply a case of being in the right place at the right time (although obviously my degree helped). Many of my friends were not so lucky and earn a pittance, have to live with their parents and/or struggle to make ends meet every month. I certainly would not like to be graduating in Computer Science this year as although the "average" graduate starting wage is supposedly higher, many people I know are finding that there is much more competition for these jobs. So much for the ridiculous idea of getting 50% of the country to university!
Liz, Newbury, UK

Talent and ability means more than a degree Jim, Manchester

I have never been to Uni. I work for a local authority and earn in excess of 30k, and I'm only 24! Talent and ability means more than a degree.
Jim, Manchester

The salary you get reflects the degree you studied. Most of the Mickey Mouse degrees around now don't deserve starting salaries equal to proper subjects
Steve , Welwyn Garden City, England

I graduated in IT BSc in 1993. I started on �14500 in London and slid further into debt. It was horrible and depressing. 18 years in education and I could not afford to buy tea bags - I was stealing them from work. Friends who had not gone to Uni has a good standard of living, houses, cars, clothes. But it did pay off eventually. It was worth in the end. I now earn �100000 and life is very nice thank you.
Danny , UK

Here's a unique take on what job to choose: how about a profession that you'll ENJOY? I know so many people earning huge salaries, and who absolutely hate going to work. I earn an average salary, and love my job. Money is nice, but you spend the majority of your life at work - so why not enjoy it?
Martin , Reading, UK

Who did they interview? I graduated in 2002 with a 1st class Science degree and even with 2 years experience my salary is �17,500 in a graduate-only position.
Melissa, Oxfordshire

Oh dear- what a fuss about starting salaries- many of the new graduates who write have a very skewed view of the world, assuming that they will stay in the same job for life. I worked in Pizza Hut for a year after graduating for �2.75 an hour (in 1992). My first graduate job had a salary of �11,000. in the 11 years since, I have changed jobs 7 times, each time gaining a promotion and a higher salary offer, now earning nearly 40k which is well above the national average, especially for women. Statistics show that most people will now change their jobs up to 17 times in a lifetime and that a degree is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in wages over what a non-degree holder can earn. A starting salary is just that- a start. If you work hard and use your experience to gain better positions, then there is nothing to stop you getting any salary that you want.
Kathy, Newcastle, UK

Six years later I have reached the heady heights of �17,000 TC, Dorset

I graduated with an IT degree 6 years ago. I started on �10,000. Six years later I have reached the heady heights of �17,000. I don't know any graduates that started work on or above the average - where are these people?! One consolation is that at this rate I will never have to pay my student loans back.... if I had known then what I know now I may have taken more out in student loans!!!
TC, Dorset

I'm surprised to hear the average salary is �21,000. My first job after graduation in 2000 was �9,500! Four years later I am now just hitting �20,000.
Gail, Scotland

I started 2 years ago on 13k doing IT in the civil service, am now on 15 and may have lost my job by 2008 thanks to Gordon Brown's loony policies. Unless you're doing medicine, dentistry, teaching or the like, don't waste your time going to uni.
Ciaran, Belfast

We all make choices in life, including about our degree. If one chooses a degree in art history, for example, one may not find work for a while, unless one belongs to the Royal Family. That being said, there is sometimes a choice between what is profitable and what the heart wants. We must all live with our choices and the lifestyle those choices afford us.
Julian, London, UK

I find graduate expectations laughable. Those of us who qualified in IT in the '80s are not necessarily earning much more than they expect to start on. If they can't manage on 15k how on earth are admin assistants, hairdressers and mechanics managing to house, feed and clothe their families when they all earn less than that? A degree shouldn't be a guarantee of a high salary, just an entrance into a different sort of job.
Chris, S.W. England

More and more graduates are moving abroad for the better salaries Anna, Boston, USA

I started working after university 10 years ago and earned just over 8,500 pounds. I couldn't live on the 2% pay rises every year so I moved to the US where I am now earning the equivalent of around 28,000 pounds, which is still low in the US but higher than what I would have got in the UK. The government should be careful because more and more graduates are moving abroad for the better salaries and bigger pay rises.
Anna, Boston, USA (ex-pat)

I just went abroad when I graduated because there were no jobs paying a decent starting salary.
George, Amsterdam

I'm 24, never went to university, went straight into a job. I now have a secure job with great prospects and a pension. Thanks to my work experience I never get turned down for interviews and have plenty of evidence with which to answer an interviewer's questions. All this without incurring any debt from my training. I'm surrounded by graduates who are earning between �10k and �12k on temporary contracts. I'd be cautious of hiring graduates because they seldom have any common sense or relevant experience.
Gavin, Cardiff, Wales

I was very happy with my starting salary in academia of just under �20K. This was after my BSc (Genetics 2:2) and MSc. I was lucky because I was not started at the bottom of my pay band. Now if I could just afford a deposit on a house....
DK, Cardiff

Go and apply yourself, be motivated and don't rely on the fact that a good university gave you a piece of paper Andrew Gates, Doncaster

Oh woe is me. I'm a poor graduate and no-one will offer me a highly paid job. Companies should be bending over backwards to employ me. Absolute rubbish. Those graduates who are on the highly paid schemes are there because they worked hard, have shown they are driven and impressed their employers at interview and assessment centres. They got that job because they are better than you. Life's like that. So, learn a lesson, go and apply yourself, be motivated and don't rely on the fact that a good university gave you a piece of paper saying you were clever.
Andrew Gates, Doncaster

�30,000 at a Management Consultancy. I work 15 hour days and many weekends though so its not as fantastic as it seems to be!
Paul West, London

I'm looking to recruit a graduate this summer on a starting salary of �20-22K. Unfortunately I haven't seen a good candidate yet - the people I've interviewed so far haven't had the right mix of technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. In my industry all the best people are being hoovered up by bigger companies on starting salaries of �30K, making it hard for me to compete.
John, England

I started on �10,900 after my first English Degree. Then on �18,000 after my second, unrelated, degree - this government has no idea! I still have to live at home, pensions are a joke, Mr Brown does not like me saving, only using plastic and house prices are a joke as is renting - this government is letting down students in everyway.
Chris Walker, Leicestershire

I graduated six years ago, and started on �30K, now up to �40K. Profession? IT and hard work.
Karen, York, England

The market pays what you are worth.. �19k sound a bit high for low risk Public sector positions. It may not be a popular idea but I think too many people are encouraged to go the university route. I left school at 16 to start a career and was so relieved to do something practical, although I continued at college. Eventually I went on to do a masters degree but that was a lot later. I was far better prepared to learn and consequently gained far more from the experience than I would have at a younger age.
Rex Lester, Chessington, Surrey, England

I work in the defence industry, an area which is not renowned for high salaries. However, when I graduated in 1994 I started on �22k and I now earn �55k. People should bear in mind that a degree is not a god given right to a high salary, it merely opens the door to let you into an organisation so that you can prove yourself.
Hamish Simpson, Edinburgh, Scotland

Reading some of the comments here, I think I should be quite pleased Nick, Long Eaton

I graduated in 1999 with a 2:1 from a good university and went into the Engineering industry. My starting salary was �16,500. Following a couple of job moves on the same career path, that's now up to �27,000. Reading some of the comments here, I think I should be quite pleased with that.
Nick, Long Eaton, England.

I graduated and couldn't get a job for six months. I ended up filling rolls for a cake shop. It took me months to find a full-time job on a starting salary of �9,000. I dream of earning �19,700.
C Horne, London

After some 20 years of largely faultless service my salary is �21,500. A previous employer very quickly gave up on a plan to recruit graduates only when it became apparent that, with very few exceptions, academia had ill-prepared them for the real world. I found myself teaching people with 1:1 degrees in English Lit how to write a simple business letter.
Rod Tucker, Stevenage

I started with two degrees in the museum sector six years ago on �12K. I am now on �27K. If only I was able to start on �21K. I can never afford to buy my own flat and am still paying off student loans. Where did they get their figures from?
MA, London

I am a PhD student currently being paid a tax-free salary of around �17,000. When I get a job I will have to take a serious pay-cut. Now that having a bachelors degree is so commonplace, when will we get the recognition for postgraduate degrees in starting salaries?
Helen, London

They have no experience Richard, Horsham

Why should graduates obtain such a higher rate of pay? They have no experience just classroom theory and binge drinking lessons. I'm in the IT consultancy and jobs these days are requesting degree entry. I've worked alongside graduates and have had to train them. They have not a clue what to do in the real world. Forget Universities and go straight out to work.
Richard, Horsham

I graduated in 1991, before the days of student loans and tuition fees. My starting salary (with a chemistry degree) was �11,500. I don't know how today's graduates will ever be able to join the property ladder and afford families etc. What I can't understand is, if 50% of young people are now going to university how can the government expect all graduates to have above average wages? I may not be a maths graduate, but I know that that doesn't add up.
Louise, Hartlepool

How depressing is this? I graduated six years ago and I'm only on a couple of grand more than that amount now... and I'm working for an internet company, which means that all my mates assume I'm earning a fortune! Maybe I should go back to Uni and start again if new graduates are all such lucky blighters. Or maybe the research gives a misleading message - average salary in blue chip companies doesn't mean average salary for all graduates methinks!
Vita, London, UK

I gained a good engineering degree from a good university in 1995 and a PhD from an ancient university in 1999, but I've never earned more than �25K, even in industry! Fortunately, I've now paid off my student loan and managed to purchase a nice private house in a property hotspot in Scotland (mortgage free) thanks to the housing boom in England. I now work in a marginally lower paid field of research that I enjoy and no longer have to get up on Monday mornings feeling that I have no alternative than to go to work in a dull, high pressure job that I hate!
KS, Scotland

What a load of rubbish. I graduated last year and am on nowhere near that salary, I have just enough to get by and that's it. A lot of my uni friends are in a similar situation. I wish they wouldn't make out that getting a degree will help you get a job let alone a good one.. It doesn't.
Lianne, Cannock, UK

This is a survey of the top jobs (the so called milk round jobs). Of course salaries are going to be high for the small minority lucky enough to get one of these.
Jonathan, London

So many end up as disillusioned temps Lorraine, Nottingham

These figures refer to a tiny proportion of students. Their University lecturers, with PhDs and a great deal of experience, start on �22,191. These figures give students hugely unrealistic expectations. As a University lecturer I would like to see less students coming through the system, as so many end up as disillusioned temps.
Lorraine, Nottingham, UK

I graduated in 1997. My first job paid me a huge �11,000 pa. I've managed to add 10 grand to my pay packet since then. It's a joke.
Emma, London

Well, don't join the Civil Service! Even as a graduate, you'll be lucky to make any of these "starting salaries" in twenty years! (Assuming your job lasts that long...)
Robert Day, Coventry, UK

If you are motivated by money, ensure your degree is in an area which pays well. There is no point complaining about your salary if your degree is in a traditionally low paid area. I am by no means a high-flier, but I studied computer science with a year placement in industry. My first job was on �25K. This wasn't my highest offer but I liked the work the company offered me. So if you are worried about your salary, take up IT.
Andy, UK

I employ a few graduate starters each year and the point that's difficult to get across is that I'm interested in what these (excellent) people can actually contribute to my bottom line. It is not a privilege to have them wish to join my company - they need to be able to demonstrate a contribution.
Steve, Marlow, UK

I started on �1,500 but that was 1973! That would be about �18,000 now which is about what new recruits would start on where I am now. The answer is pick your degree subject as something someone wants. It's just a pity I haven't been able to convince my daughter to do that.
Roger Jackson, Stockport, England

I studied Engineering for five years and turned down two jobs to accept my current position with a starting salary of about �28k rising to �35k in about three years. Maybe if more people didn't take the easy option in their choice of degrees then finding employment wouldn't be such a hardship.
Ade, UK

which graduates will openly admit that they spent three years studying for the privilege of working for minimum wage? John B, UK

So much of this is skewed. Two friends of mine graduated at the same time (10 years ago). One went into the City and started on �28,000 and the other spent six months trying to find something before settling for a job paying �8,500. That's right, three years studying for a job paying less than ten grand. When you get the very occasional company willing to pay �50-60k to new graduates who can convince them they are worth it this can only drag up the average and gloss over graduates who end up working in pubs or call centres. After all, who's going to admit that they hire graduates and pay a pittance, and which graduates will openly admit that they spent three years studying for the privilege of working for minimum wage?
John B, UK

Never mind starting salaries, we have a huge problem of active ageism in this country that means that people over the age of 45 are seeing their wages frozen and opportunities for advancement being handed to others purely on the grounds of age. I have had no pay rise for two years and have been told to my face that the reason has nothing to do with competence or performance, but because I am 47 years old and that they are giving priority to the younger members of staff.
Sally Marshall, Bristol

Leaving a good university with a 2:1, I started on �11,500, going up to �13,000 after a promotion! If I wasn't living with someone, there is no way I could afford to pay my rent and bills. I have decided that I have to retrain after doing an academic degree, which has failed to open any doors for me. I am going back to university to train as a midwife - a much more fulfilling career with a starting salary of around �18,500 outside London and a guaranteed job.
SH, Somerset

Maybe they only interviewed bankers JH, UK

Ha! I'd love to know where they get their figures from. I got a first class degree from a good university in Chemistry and biochemistry in 1992, and I'm only now earning �24K in research. Maybe they only interviewed bankers.
JH, UK

I work in the NHS and my starting salary in 2001 was �13K - plus the job requires a good degree (2.2 or above). After a promotion I now earn a whopping �17K but as the top of my pay band is �20K, I will never earn enough to pay off my student loan. If I want another promotion I will need to get a Masters (or higher) degree, which I can't afford to do on my current salary. Unfortunately for me I love my job and am willing to suffer poverty rather than sell my soul and work for a big commercial company.
Alison, Leeds, UK

I would like to know who the graduates are who can go into a job with that high a salary. Most of the graduates I know are working in call centres because their degrees mean nothing to employers. The government keeps insisting that a university education means a good career but that's not necessarily true. The job market is being flooded with degrees and they are losing their status at a rapid rate.
Julia, Nottingham

Does this research take into account the huge numbers of graduates that find their chosen degree to be completely useless in the workplace and wind up serving pints? This sort of research sends out the wrong message - a degree will get you money. It's just not that simple.
Gareth Rippingale, UK

I always find these statistics a little worrying in that they often set unrealistic expectations for a lot of undergraduates. I graduated seven years ago and I've yet to earn the "average starting salary".
GB, Birmingham

I graduated last year and my starting salary was an amusing �15,500. I can just about afford to live - expensive rent, council tax, bills, student loan... I won't be able to afford to buy a flat (and probably couldn't borrow as much as I should due to student loan payments) and I'm going to be 40 when I pay off the loans. It was relatively straightforward finding and getting the job. It's just the worry that the job I have will never pay enough for me to be able to afford a holiday. All these money worries! I'm only 22!
Alison, Scotland

I have a very good English degree from a top university but it took me eight months to find a job Allie, London

It's all very well to say that there are more graduate jobs and that starting salaries have gone up, but that only applies to graduates from courses that lead onto graduate training positions. I have a very good English degree from a top university but it took me eight months to find a job and even then it was only a basic entry-level position with a starting salary several thousand pounds less than the average for graduates. If you want to work for a bank or an accountancy firm then fine, but other graduates have a much more difficult time trying to find work.
Allie, London

I started (with a BSc & MSc in biomedical sciences) on �13,500. After five years and some very hard work I've just reached 19K. These average figures are very misleading: one stockbroker starting on �50,000 offsets four scientists earning little more than �10,000 to generate a mean average of �21,000. Median starting salaries will look very different. It's a case of lies, damned lies and statistics.
Peter, Nottingham, UK

My salary is �12,000 per year as I can only find temp work in N Ireland. Opportunities and salaries are comparably lower in N Ireland and so many graduates find themselves in the local supermarket or temping in offices for a few years after graduation. Therefore nothing can be done to reduce the debt you acquire for some years.
Gary King, Belfast, N Ireland

I'm a graduate living in the South West and have found that the few graduate jobs that are around have too much competition. My starting salary is currently �5.50 an hour! I'd like to know where all these wonderful jobs are and can I please have one, my skills are just going to waste.
Emily Powell, Plymouth