Tradies earn more than graduates earlier on in their career, new research suggests.

New research that compares the lifetime finances of tradespeople to that of qualified graduates is "misleading", Universities New Zealand says.

Business and Economic Research Limited (Berl)﻿ research for the Industry Training Federation (ITF), aimed to verify whether or not having a degree actually made a person richer.

ITF chief executive Josh Williams said its findings quashed most parents' belief that doing a trade was a "bad thing".

SUPPLIED Industry Training Federation chief executive Josh Williams commissioned the research to prove trades are a viable career option.

"[The research aims] to send a message to the public that … getting a degree is not always the best option."

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In the report titled 'Modelling costs v benefits of apprenticeship v degree', Berl​ compared the financial situations of tradespeople without degrees, to workers with degrees and those who left school and never underwent training, over a 46-year career.

CAMERON BURNELL/STUFF Williams says the research findings prove a university degree may not always be the best career option for young New Zealanders.

It found that individuals with level four, five and six qualifications such as trades apprentices, ended up in an equally financially fruitful retirement situation as someone with a bachelor degree.

The reason for that result was that apprentices earned earlier, therefore they banked more savings and Kiwisaver payments, often seeing them buy property earlier, it found.

Williams said the financial situation of tradespeople in the middle of their career, typically the time to have children and buy property, was the most surprising finding.

SUPPLIED Universities New Zealand executive director Chris Whelan says the research misleads young people.

"At the middle part of their career they are in a stronger financial position, that is possibly because you have earned earlier, saved earlier … and avoided student debt.

"Look around at who has big houses and boats. It is often the trades people."

Chris Whelan, executive director of Universities New Zealand, the industry body for major tertiary education institutions, rejected the research findings.

The research frustrated him because it misled young people who were choosing a career path, he said.

"It does [frustrate me]. We keep running these lines that mislead young people."

Berl's​ research was "disingenuous" because it only calculated income and did not factor in job titles, he said.

"It is disingenuous putting out this kind of modelling that implies a trades apprentice can buy a house earlier. We do not think that happens in reality."

Opposing research that proved having a degree paid off existed, he said.

Universities New Zealand used 2013 census data to compare the earnings of 700 politics graduates to 1200 carpenters aged between 30 and 39-years-old.

It found that political graduates earned an average of $75,000 a year - $17,000 more than carpenters, he said.

About 8 per cent of the carpenters were on a benefit two years after completing an apprenticeship, compared to 1 per cent of politics graduates, he said.

"We did not just straight line someone's income."

The physical work of a trade could cause a worker to retire or shift to part-time work earlier, he said.

Williams defended the research that took a "lifetime approach," he said. However he recognised it had not broken the findings down to specific jobs.

The ITF was considering undergoing more research with Berl that analysed the financial situations of workers in specific trades and degree-qualified jobs, he said.

He wanted high schools to use the research to suggest trades as a viable career option to their senior students, he said.

Whelan said research that promoted trades as a career option, like Berl's, did not threaten the value of a university degree.

"Everyone is saying the university model is dead, we do not believe that at all.

"We think young people in trades can have incredibly fulfilling lives, we know the exact same outcome exists for graduates."

Williams said the timing of the research's release, after the Government's free fees announcement, was a "coincidence".

It commissioned the research before the general election.