Geography matters: New list reveals major pay gaps among financial management graduates

According to Klaus Mosekjær Madsen, Senior Economist at Finansforbundet, it is challenging to make comparisons at the educational level as many programmes have small cohorts that vary from year to year, and some graduates also switch industries within the first few years. 

When he looks at the trade union's own statistics, the starting pay for graduates with a short-cycle higher education in financial management in 2023 was around DKK 33,000, and those who graduated in 2013 are paid DKK 55,000 today. At the same time, the unemployment rate among the trade union's members is only about two per cent.

"The employment opportunities are great in the industry as a whole. The sector has a very low unemployment rate and the lowest unemployment among graduates since 2018. Financial sector employees are in great demand, both in and outside the financial sector, for example in the business services sector."

Klaus Mosekjær Madsen points out that the sector's employee composition has undergone major upheavals in recent years.

While the 60-year-olds mainly have a vocational upper secondary education, only 12 per cent of the 30 to 35-year-olds have such education, while 15 per cent have a short-cycle higher education, and as many as 67 per cent have either a medium-cycle or long-cycle higher education.  

Loyalty affects development in pay

Despite the large variation, after 10 years, financial management graduates from 5 out of the 11 educational institutions experience a minor difference of about DKK 2,500 per month. And in the very centre of that quintet is the Dania Academy in Hobro. 

Here, Jan Wolf Rasmussen serves as the traineeship coordinator and has been a teacher for thirteen years. 

He explains that the relatively low starting point for graduates may be due to the fact that the school was originally the only school for estate agents in the country, and a third of the graduates apply to become estate agents, whose starting pay is only DKK 12,000 to DKK 13,000, whereas a regular trainee in a bank earns DKK 28,000. 
In the long term, the pay may be affected by the somewhat low mobility. 

"We have many local students, and the trend is that most of them stay in the area. They're pretty loyal to the place where they started, and that's reflected in the pay which, over time, increases less. Students from other areas are more mobile once they've landed a job," says Jan Wolf Rasmussen.

He also emphasises that the job opportunities are quite good, and that companies often approach him to ask if he is in contact with any graduates. 

"We're a small town between Aarhus and Aalborg and have a couple of large banks – SparNord and Sparekassen Danmark – with staff functions in town. Local banks tend to favour local candidates, so these candidates often secure jobs more easily," says the teacher who spent seven years in the mortgage credit industry before becoming a teacher.  

Zealand "indeed a seller's market"

Slightly higher, in fourth place – and about DKK 4,500 more per month than Dania Academy – is the Zealand Academy of Technologies and Business in Næstved. 

Besides Næstved, the Academy also has programmes in Køge and Holbæk, which are not included in the statement. In total, there are 245 students distributed across five to six classes at the three locations.

Allan Bruce Corfitsen, Progamme Manager, explains the high pay by the severe shortage of financial management graduates in almost the entire region. 

"We're cooperating closely with the business sectors to figure out what they need. Companies do a lot to attract young people and frequently offer them a programme from the time they are trainees to permanent employment and initiation of the HD programme. They have to pay well if they want to avoid closing down small branches across Zealand. It is indeed a seller's market, and companies are really hungry", he explains. 

The number of classes also makes it easier for the teachers, who often have a background in the industry, to help the graduates move on through their network. This may be more challenging if you're teaching ten or more classes in Copenhagen, which also attracts young people who are then leaving the region, which, in turn, intensifies local competition. 

Audit on the rise

The number of students is generally on the rise, and traditionally, banks have employed the most graduates. 

But Allan Bruce Corfitsen is seeing a new trend in the choice of study programme: 

“Ever since people started talking about ESG reports, a lot of young people have realised that you can actually work with ESG management in the audit field. So far, it has mostly been the big companies offering these roles, but the medium-sized ones are catching on, and before long, small companies will also join. They'll be in huge demand," he expects.