Gen Z grads in the U.K. are earning 30% less than millennials did—new data shows the degree payoff is collapsing

Two college students sit in somber (Credit: fstop123—Getty Images)

The rise of AI has reshaped higher education—from how students learn to how unprepared they feel entering today’s workplace. But for many Gen Z graduates in the United Kingdom, the cracks in the system began long before ChatGPT arrived.

For more than a decade, the financial value of a degree has been quietly eroding. New research reveals the graduate pay premium over minimum-wage salaries has been cut in half since 2007.