The labour market consequences of student debt in England

​The increasing use of student loans is a global phenomenon that has fuelled higher education expansion while creating unprecedented levels of student debt. Graduates entering the labour market now have to consider the burden created by loan repayment in planning the next steps of their lives. This research analyses the labour market choices made by a sample of English graduates until the age of 25. It aims to assess the ways in which having student loan debt may modify graduates’ labour market behaviours and how these behaviours may be shaped by the nature and scale of student loan debt as well as graduates’ attitudes towards debt. Since student debt is becoming a pervasive issue that extends well beyond higher education, evaluating its potential links to labour market behaviours is essential to better understand the ways in which the higher education system defines society’s future.