The earnings premium of graduates is falling as higher education expands, according to new research. This contradicts the findings of Professor Peter Elias of Warwick University and Dr Kate Purcell of the University of the West of England, whose research released earlier this year showed that graduates were still more likely to hold higher-paid jobs than non-graduate employees. The new study shows that four years after leaving university, men who graduated in 1999 were earning 11 per cent less in real terms than their 1995 counterparts at the same stage in their careers. Women who graduated in 1999 were earning 19 per cent less than their male counterparts in 1995 and women who graduated in 1995 were earning 8 per cent less than men in the 1999 cohort.