This paper estimates the firm productivity returns to degree field, institution quality, and degree level, and compares them with wage returns. I link a LinkedIn panel from Revelio Labs to Orbis financial accounts for over 20,000 UK firms over 2015?2024. Within firms, a bachelor's degree raises a worker's productivity by around 20%; a top-20 institution adds a further 10% and a postgraduate qualification 6%. The returns differ by organisational role. A bachelor's degree raises productivity for managers and non-managers alike. Specialist credentials - a STEM field, an elite institution - raise productivity for non-managers but not for managers, whose premium loads instead on postgraduate qualifications, above all MBAs. Managers also contribute around 26% more than otherwise identical non-managers, a premium that education does not explain. Averaged over the workforce, wage premia are close to productivity premia for each type of degree. However, the average conceals two wedges of opposite sign: STEM-trained non-managers are paid below their relative productivity, and degree-holding managers above it. Finally, for a subset of firms matched to the World Management Survey, workforce education accounts for around a quarter the well-documented correlation between management practices and productivity.

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23 October 2026     Paper Number CEPDP2225

Download PDF - Which types of education raise firm productivity? Evidence for managers and workers in the UK

This CEP discussion paper is published under the centre's Labour programme.