Britain's market traders increasingly drawn from highly educated young professionals

One in five young market traders in Britain holds a master's degree, PhD, or medical doctorate, according to data from the National Market Traders Federation.

• The NMTF figures, shared exclusively with the Guardian, showed 20% of young market traders now hold postgraduate qualifications.
• Separate data from street-food collective Kerb found almost three-quarters of its founders have university degrees, with 25% holding postgraduate qualifications.
• Joe Harrison, NMTF chief executive, said the change had occurred over the past two to three years and that professional people entering market trading had previously been mostly in their 50s.
• Wiktoria Anna, who qualified as a solicitor in 2022, said she left the profession one year later to build a full-time business selling watercolour paintings at markets.