Fifteen months after graduating, 91% of UK doctoral graduates were working and under 3% were unemployed, with median earnings of £42,000 — but only 41% were employed in higher education, down from roughly half in every previous analysis in the series, and just 7% of those in higher education research held an open-ended contract.
Those figures come from What do researchers do? Employment, earnings and activities of recent doctoral graduates 2026, published by Vitae (the Careers Research and Advisory Centre) in March 2026. Every number on this page is from that report unless stated otherwise, and the scope notes are kept attached because this is the dataset most often quoted loosely.
The key figures
| Measure | Value | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Doctoral graduates with recorded outcomes | 10,690 (45% of 23,665 known graduates) | Vitae WDRD 2026, 2022/23 cohort |
| In work of some kind | 91% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| — full-time work | 73% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| — part-time work | 10% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| — work combined with further study | 8% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| Unemployed | under 3% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| Median earnings, 15 months after graduation | £42,000 | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| Median earnings, first-degree graduates at the same point | £29,000 | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| Working in higher education | 41% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| In research roles outside higher education | 14% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| Open-ended contract, all employed doctoral graduates | 60% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| Open-ended contract, those in HE research | 7% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
| Said the doctorate was required for their job | just under 60% | Vitae WDRD 2026 |
What is this survey, and what are its limits?
The underlying instrument is HESA’s Graduate Outcomes survey, which since 2019 has replaced the older Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey. Two consequences matter for anyone citing trends. Graduate Outcomes runs 15 months after graduation rather than DLHE’s six months, so the two series are not directly comparable — a point Vitae makes explicitly. And several doctorate-specific questions now sit in optional question banks, which reduces the numbers behind some findings.
Coverage for this wave: outcomes recorded for 10,690 doctoral graduates, 45% of the 23,665 known graduates, split 57% of UK graduates and 32% of international ones. Vitae is candid that response rates are lower than DLHE achieved historically, while noting the analysis rests on “a larger sample of graduates than any other UK outcomes study”. Both halves of that sentence should travel with the numbers.
One further scope note: this measures the population’s early destinations, not the doctoral population itself. For how many postgraduate researchers there are in the first place, the enrolment series is a different dataset with different caveats — set out in our page on the HESA figures for PhD student numbers, which deliberately does not carry outcome data.
Is a doctorate still employable?
On this evidence, markedly so, and more resiliently than other qualification levels. Against the doctoral 73% in full-time work and under 3% unemployed, HESA’s figures for 2022/23 first-degree graduates were 55% in full-time work, 12% part-time, 18% in further study and 7% unemployed. Taught postgraduates sat between the two at 69%, 11%, 11% and 3%.
Vitae also notes that doctoral employment outcomes have “changed less than for first-degree graduates over the last five years”, holding steady through and after the pandemic-affected labour market that visibly dented the 2018/19 and 2019/20 cohorts. Whatever else is true about doctoral careers, mass unemployment is not the shape of the problem.
Where do they actually go?
This is where the headline of the 2026 report sits. 41% of working doctoral graduates were employed in higher education — lower than the roughly half recorded in all previous analyses in this series, with decreases in every disciplinary group and the largest driven by fewer physical- and biological-science graduates going into HE research.
The disciplinary split is stark and stable. Higher education absorbed 61% of social science graduates and 56% of arts and humanities graduates, against much lower shares in STEM. The nature of those HE jobs also differs: most STEM graduates working in higher education were in research posts, while in the social sciences and arts and humanities most were in teaching roles.
Meanwhile 14% went into research jobs outside higher education, up on the 2018/19 cohort in most disciplines — a reminder that “research career” and “academic career” have not been synonyms for some time. Arts and humanities remain the outlier at the other end: a quarter of them were in a miscellaneous “other occupations” category, twice the proportion of any other discipline.
What do they earn?
Median earnings 15 months after graduation reached £42,000, which Vitae describes as having “risen consistently”, against £29,000 for first-degree graduates at the same point. The premium is real; where it sits, however, is instructive.
- Higher education research: £38,000 — the lowest of the named clusters.
- Research outside higher education: £41,000.
- Other common doctoral occupations: £50,000.
- Higher education teaching: higher than HE research, which Vitae attributes to different doctoral study trajectories rather than to teaching being better paid in itself.
The point worth carrying away is not that academia pays badly in absolute terms but that the lowest-paid cluster in this dataset is the one most doctoral candidates are aiming at. Set against the studentship figures in our stipends and funding roundup, an HE research post is still a substantial rise on a stipend — just the smallest available rise.
The finding that defines the academic route
Of doctoral graduates working in higher education research, only 7% had an open-ended contract. The remainder were on fixed terms: 81% on contracts of twelve months or more, and 11% on something shorter than a year. Vitae notes this “had not changed materially since 2018/19”.
The contrast inside the same dataset is what makes the figure land. Across all employed doctoral graduates, 60% held open-ended contracts — up from 46% for the 2018/19 cohort and 55% for 2019/20. Open-ended contracts rose in every occupational cluster except HE research. Over three quarters of those in HE teaching and in every non-HE cluster had open-ended contracts. Zero-hours and supply arrangements were rare: 1% among those in HE teaching and lecturing.
So the precarity that dominates conversation about doctoral careers is real, specific and located — it is a property of postdoctoral research employment, not of having a doctorate. Anyone planning an academic research career should read the 7% as the base rate for their first job, and plan finances, visas and housing around a fixed end date. If you are weighing that route, the institutional incentives shaping who gets hired are worth understanding too: our explainer on the REF and PhD students covers why departments hire toward a submission, and publishing from your thesis is the currency that market runs on.
Was the doctorate worth it, according to the graduates?
Just under 60% of employed doctoral graduates said their doctorate was required for their job, and only 14% said it had not been at least advantageous — meaning at least two thirds felt it advantageous in every occupational cluster, including those well outside research.
The skills findings point the same way. Doctoral research skills were regularly used by 77% and at least occasionally by 93%; 62% were conducting research or working with research findings; three quarters reported working with a high degree of autonomy, while over half also worked in a team most of the time. Around a third had done a placement or internship during doctoral study, most lasting over a month — the clearest actionable finding in the report for anyone still mid-candidature.
Where do they work, geographically?
Two directions, both moving. Among UK-domiciled doctoral graduates whose work location was known, 6% were working outside the UK — down from 10% for the 2018/19 cohort. In the other direction, just over 60% of international doctoral graduates remained in the UK to work, which was higher than previously recorded.
How to cite these figures
Attribute to Vitae, What do researchers do? Employment, earnings and activities of recent doctoral graduates (CRAC, 2026), and name the cohort — 2022/23 doctoral graduates, surveyed 15 months after graduation via HESA’s Graduate Outcomes. Always attach the base: percentages of working graduates for the occupational clusters, of employed graduates for the contract figures, and of all graduates for the headline employment rate. Do not splice these against DLHE-era numbers, since the surveys differ in timing and coverage. And treat Vitae’s occupational clusters as its own analytical construction — they are built from groups of SIC and SOC codes precisely because standard categories cannot separate a research-only post from a teaching post in the same institution.
What this means if you are still writing
Three reframings the data supports. The academic route is a minority destination and shrinking, so building a plan that assumes it is planning against the evidence. Research careers outside universities are growing, better paid than HE research, and overwhelmingly on open-ended contracts. And the doctorate itself is doing work in the labour market well beyond academia, since a majority of graduates report it was required for the job they hold.
All of which is downstream of one thing: finishing. Whatever destination you are aiming at, the variable you control is whether the thesis gets written on time — and an unfunded overrun year costs more than any career decision in this dataset. Tesify keeps the thesis structured and moving — chapters, drafting and an automatic bibliography in one workspace, 100% written by you.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of PhD graduates get academic jobs?
41% of working UK doctoral graduates were employed in higher education 15 months after graduation, across research, teaching and other HE roles — lower than the roughly half found in every earlier report in the series (Vitae, 2026).
How much do PhD graduates earn in the UK?
Median earnings were £42,000 fifteen months after graduation for 2022/23 doctoral graduates, against £29,000 for first-degree graduates at the same point (Vitae, 2026).
Do postdocs get permanent contracts?
Rarely at this stage. Only 7% of doctoral graduates working in higher education research held an open-ended contract; 81% were on fixed terms of twelve months or more and 11% on shorter contracts (Vitae, 2026).
Are PhD graduates unemployed?
Very few — under 3% of 2022/23 doctoral graduates, against 7% of first-degree graduates in the same year. Doctoral employment outcomes have also been more stable across the last five years.
Which subjects have the best doctoral career outcomes?
It depends what you are measuring. STEM graduates entered full-time work at higher rates; earnings were strongest for biomedical sciences and social sciences and weakest for arts and humanities, which Vitae attributes largely to the occupations each group enters rather than to the disciplines themselves.
Do arts and humanities PhDs struggle?
Their pattern differs rather than simply being worse. Part-time working is much higher — 25% overall, and a third of those actually working — self-employment runs at about 10%, and a quarter end up in a miscellaneous “other occupations” category. Unemployment is only slightly above other disciplines, at around 3%.
How many UK PhD graduates work abroad?
6% of UK-domiciled working doctoral graduates were outside the UK, down from 10% for the 2018/19 cohort. Conversely, just over 60% of international doctoral graduates stayed in the UK to work.
Is a PhD worth it financially?
On these figures the earnings premium at 15 months is substantial, and just under 60% of employed graduates said the doctorate was required for their job. The report measures early outcomes rather than lifetime earnings, so it cannot answer the question in full.
What is the Graduate Outcomes survey?
HESA’s survey of graduates 15 months after they qualify, which replaced the older DLHE survey from the 2017/18 cohort onwards. It covers international as well as UK graduates, but its timing and coverage mean its results are not directly comparable with DLHE figures.
Should I do an internship during my PhD?
Around a third of graduates had, mostly for over a month, and it is one of the few destination-relevant variables that is entirely within your control during candidature. Check whether your funder mandates or funds placements — some research council schemes do.
Where can I find the full report?
Vitae publishes What do researchers do? on its own site; that publication, rather than any secondary summary including this page, is the version to cite in academic or policy writing.