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Study Analyzes Recent Grads' Unemployment By Major

Posted by Soulskill on from the underwater-basket-weaving-still-going-strong dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "A new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce called 'Hard Times: College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings: Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal' analyzes unemployment by major. It shows that not enough students — and their families who are also taking on student loans — are asking what their college major is worth in the workforce. 'Too many students aren't sure what job they could get after four, five or even six years of studying a certain major and racking up education loans,' writes Singletary. 'Many aren't getting on-the-job training while they are in school or during their semester or summer breaks. As a result, questions about employment opportunities or what type of job they have the skills to attain are met with blank stares or the typical, "I don't know."' The reports found that the unemployment rate for recent graduates is highest in architecture (13.9 percent) because of the collapse of the construction and home-building industry and not surprisingly, unemployment rates are generally higher in non-technical majors (PDF), such as the arts (11.1 percent), humanities and liberal arts (9.4 percent), social science (8.9 percent) and law and public policy (8.1 percent)."

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  1. The sorted list by Beeftopia · · Score: 4, Informative

    Journalism has a lower unemployment rate than engineering? Wow.

    1) Sorted by Unemployment rate, lowest to highest:

    Major -- Unemployment Rate -- Starting Salary
    Education -- 5.4 -- 33000
    Health -- 5.4 -- 43000
    Agricultural and Nat. Res -- 7 -- 32000
    Comm. and Journalism -- 7.3 -- 33000
    Business -- 7.4 -- 39000
    Engineering -- 7.5 -- 55000
    Science - life/physical -- 7.7 -- 32000
    Law and Public Policy -- 8.1 -- 34000
    Computers and Math. -- 8.2 -- 46000
    Recreation -- 8.3 -- 30000
    Social Science -- 8.9 -- 37000
    Humanities and Liberal Arts -- 9.4 -- 31000>
    Arts -- 11.1 -- 30000

    2) Sorted by starting salary, lowest to highest:

    Major -- Unemployment Rate -- Starting Salary
    Recreation -- 8.3 -- 30000
    Arts -- 11.1 -- 30000
    Humanities and Liberal Arts -- 9.4 -- 31000
    Agricultural and Nat. Res -- 7 -- 32000
    Science - life/physical -- 7.7 -- 32000
    Education -- 5.4 -- 33000
    Comm. And Journalism -- 7.3 -- 33000
    Law and Public Policy -- 8.1 -- 34000
    Social Science -- 8.9 -- 37000
    Business -- 7.4 -- 39000
    Health -- 5.4 -- 43000
    Computers and Math. -- 8.2 -- 46000
    Engineering -- 7.5 -- 55000