The gender pay gap is still present for graduates, as women with the same degree as men earn up to £8,000 less, study finds

Female graduates earn less than males – even if they studied the same subject

Female graduates earn thousands of pounds less than their male counterparts - even if they studied the same subject at university.

One in five men are paid more than £30,000 after their degree, compared with just 8% of women who earn the same.

The report, by the University of Warwick's Institute for Employment, was commissioned by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit (HECSU) using a study called Futuretrack. It analysed the 2012 salaries of more than 17,000 recent graduates in full-time work.

The findings come despite equal opportunities laws and efforts to reduce the gender pay gap. In 2011, the Davies report pushed for better female representation in large firms and, in November, the overall gender pay gap officially fell below 10%.

But, according to HECSU's reseach, a gap persists even if men and women have the same qualifications. Female law graduates, for instance, can expect to earn 28% less than men at the start of their careers. They earn just over £20,000 on average – nearly £8,000 less than their male counterparts. This was despite that fact that more women than men applied to study law at university, out of those surveyed.

The same gap was found right across higher education subjects. Women who read medicine earned 9% less than men. And, out of those who studied physical sciences, women's wages were £3,626 lower. In education, there was a 4.3% gender pay gap: women's average wages were £21,679 compared with £22,661 for men.

The report's author, Jane Artess, HECSU director of research, said: "Equal opportunity to access jobs and pay has been enshrined in legislation for 40 years yet Futuretrack found that being female can make a difference to a graduate's earning power. Despite having the same Ucas entry tariff points, attending the same type of institution and studying the same subject, men are commanding higher salaries than women.

"It is difficult to see why male and female graduates of the same subject discipline do not achieve very similar earnings. Since this is unlikely to be a consequence of employers paying males and females doing the same job differently – as this would be unlawful – we infer that something else is happening to account for this."

She added: "One rather more heartening finding is that satisfaction with career to date does tend to improve with higher salaries, and this was particularly so for women."

On top of unequal earnings, the study highlights gender division in the subject choices in higher education. 13% of the male graduates who were surveyed had applied for engineering courses, compared with just 2% of females. Only 2.1% of women applied for maths or computer sciences, in contrast to 10.9% of men. Subjects like veterinary education, biology, science, and medicine were more popular amongst females.

The research team at the University of Warwick said: "Patterns of subject choices remain stubbornly gendered even though female participation in higher education has grown more rapidly than for males and, on average, women's entry qualifications surpass those of men.

"What is harder to understand is the persistence of the gender pay gap among graduates. This remains effectively unchanged from the situation in the 1990s. Certain professions, notably law, remain male-dominated and show limited results from any efforts they have made to ensure greater equality of opportunity."

Other research published last month suggested that graduate prospects were set to improve. It said that this year average wages would rise and the number of vacancies would increase. HECSU, however, claimed the study did not show the full picture of the graduate jobs market.

Charlie Ball, deputy director of research at HECSU, said: "Most people start their careers outside London on less than £20,000. Most new graduates will get jobs, but not on large graduate training schemes, rather with small businesses and local firms."

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