Unemployment & Salaries: Your Major Matters

Unemployment For College Majors

Earnings For College Majors

Source: “Hard Times, College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings: Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal“,The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

Earlier this year, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce published a study on unemployment rates and salaries for various college majors. Saying that unemployment among recent graduates with new Bachelor’s degrees is on average 8.9%, it states that “ … as the recovery proceeds and recent college graduates gain access to work, especially in their major fields, their unemployment rates will 
drop substantially …“ and „ … staying on campus to earn a graduate degree provides safe shelter from the immediate economic storm, and will pay off with greater employability and earnings …“

According to the study, unemployment among recent college graduates in Economics reaches 9.4%, 5.7% for college graduates with work experience and 4.6% for graduate degree holders. Average salaries of graduates in Economics stand at $48,000 for Bachelor’s degrees, $76,000 for college graduates with experience and $101,000 for graduate degrees.