Pupils studying for A-levels are about to take their final exams. Many will already have university places, but few will realise just how important are the decisions they have made. Their choice of degree alone can cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost income.

The natural expectation for students is that the returns from higher education will be as great today as it was for their parents, most of whom received a huge financial boost from their time as undergraduates. But the emerging evidence is that the labour market for graduates is a world of difference from the recruitment “milk rounds” and graduate jobs of generations past.