\n<\/p>\n
A new report analyzes earnings for college graduates from different majors.<\/p>\n
Nuthawut Somsuk\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Despite mounting public skepticism about the value of a college degree, the data is still clear: Over all, college graduates have much higher earning potential than their peers without a bachelor\u2019s degree. But the limits of those boosted earnings are often decided by a student\u2019s major. <\/p>\n
American workers with a four-year degree ages 25 to\u00a054 earn a median annual salary of $81,000\u201470\u00a0percent more than their peers with a high school diploma alone, according to a new report that Georgetown University\u2019s Center on Education and the Workforce published Thursday. However, the salary range for workers with a bachelor\u2019s degree can span anywhere from $45,000 a year for graduates of education and public service to $141,000 for STEM majors. <\/p>\n
And even within those fields, salary levels have a big range. Humanities majors in the prime of their careers earn between $48,000 and $105,000 a year, with a median salary of $69,000. Meanwhile, business and communications majors earn between $58,000 and $129,000 a year, with a median salary of $86,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cChoosing a major has long been one of the most consequential decisions that college students make\u2014and this is particularly true now, when recent college graduates are facing an unusually rocky labor market,\u201d said Catherine Morris, senior editor and writer at CEW and lead author of the report, \u201cThe Major Payoff: Evaluating Earnings and Employment Outcomes Across Bachelor\u2019s Degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents need to weigh their options carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report, which analyzed earnings and unemployment data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s American Community Survey from 2009 to 2023, also documented rising unemployment for recent college graduates. In 2008, recent graduates had lower unemployment rates relative to all workers (6.8\u00a0percent versus 9.8\u00a0percent). But that gap has narrowed over the past 15 years; since 2022, recent college graduates have faced higher levels of unemployment relative to all workers. <\/p>\n
Morris attributed rising unemployment for recent college graduates to a mix of factors, including increased layoffs in white-collar fields, the rise of artificial intelligence and general economic uncertainty. At the same time, climbing tuition prices and the student debt crisis have heightened consumer concern about a degree\u2019s return on investment. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past 15 years, there\u2019s been more and more of a shift toward students wanting to get degrees in majors that they perceive as lucrative or high-paying,\u201d Morris, who noted that STEM degrees, especially computer science, have become increasingly popular. Meanwhile, the popularity of humanities degrees has declined. <\/p>\n
But just because a degree has higher earning potential doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s immune to job instability. In 2022, 6.8\u00a0percent of recent graduates with computer science degrees were unemployed, while just 2.2\u00a0percent of education majors\u2014who typically earn some of the lowest salaries\u2014were unemployed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe more specific the major, the more sensitive it is to sectoral shocks,\u201d said Jeff Strohl, director of the center at Georgetown. \u201cMore general majors actually have a lot more flexibility in the labor market. I would expect to see some of the softer majors that start with higher unemployment than the STEM majors be a little more stable.\u201d <\/p>\n
And earning a graduate degree can also substantially boost earnings for workers with a bachelor\u2019s degree in a more general field, such as multidisciplinary studies, social sciences or education and public service. Meanwhile, the graduate earnings premium for more career-specific fields isn\u2019t as high. <\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 25\u00a0percent of bachelor of arts majors don\u2019t by themselves have a positive return on investment,\u201d Strohl said. \u201cBut we need to look at the graduate earnings premium, because many B.A. majors don\u2019t stand by themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n
Although salaries for college graduates are one metric that can help college students decide on a major, Morris said it shouldn\u2019t be the only consideration. <\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t just chase the money,\u201d she said. \u201cThe job market can be very unpredictable. Students need to be aware of their own intrinsic interests and find ways to differentiate themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new report analyzes earnings for college graduates from different majors. Nuthawut Somsuk\/Getty Images Despite mounting public skepticism about the value of a college degree, the data is still clear: Over all, college graduates have much higher earning potential than their peers without a bachelor\u2019s degree. But the limits of those boosted earnings are often<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[535,864,1811,306,9090,12261],"class_list":{"0":"post-29024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-labor","10":"tag-major","11":"tag-market","12":"tag-matters","13":"tag-rocky"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}