College Majors, Earnings, and Unemployment

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The risk of unemployment among recent college graduates depends on their major. The unemployment rate for recent graduates is highest in Architecture (13.9 percent) because of the collapse of the construction and home building industry in the recession. Unemployment rates are generally higher in non-technical majors, such as the Arts (11.1 percent), Humanities and Liberal Arts (9.4 percent), Social Science (8.9 percent)1 and Law and Public Policy (8.1 percent).
Unemployment in majors related to computers and mathematics vary widely depending on the technical and scientific content of the major. Employers are still hiring technical computer specialists who can write software and invent new applications. But
for information specialists who use software to manipulate, mine, and disseminate information, hiring slows down in recessions. We can see the difference in unemployment between people who invent computer technology as opposed to people who use computer technology. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates in Information Systems has spiked to 11.7 percent, while the rates for majors in Computer Science and Mathematics are 7.8 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively.
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What college graduates earn also depends on what they take. Median earnings among recent college graduates vary from $55,000 among Engineering majors to $30,000 in the Arts, as well as Psychology and Social Work. In our more detailed data—which drills into the broad categories to look at results for more individual, specialized majors—the variation is even more pronounced, ranging from $60,000 for Computer Engineering graduates to $24,000 for Physiology majors.</p>

<p>Majors with high technical, business and healthcare content tend to earn the most among both recent and experienced college graduates. Engineering majors lead both in earnings for recent and experienced college graduates followed by Computer and Mathematics majors, and Business majors. Recent graduates in Healthcare majors start out with high earnings, but begin to lose ground to Science, Business and Engineering as college graduates gain experience and graduate degrees. Graduate school further differentiates earnings among majors.

<a href=“http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/Unemployment.Final.pdf[/url]”>http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/Unemployment.Final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;