Survey taken in its entirety from:
http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/10-worst-college-majors-for-your-career/1.html#top
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
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Make no mistake: An undergraduate degree can improve your
employment prospects and paycheck size. A high school graduate earns 40%
less than someone with a bachelor’s degree and is more than twice as
likely to be unemployed. But not all college majors are created equal.
In fact, grads with certain majors sometimes fare worse in the labor
force than workers who stopped studying after high school.
Considering the time and expense that goes into earning a
college degree, knowing whether your course of study is a career-killer
is powerful knowledge indeed. That's why we analyzed the jobless rates
and salaries for graduates with the 100 most popular majors to come up
with our list of the ten worst values in college majors.
Using data from Payscale.com and Georgetown University's Center
on Education and the Workforce, we looked for majors whose
graduates—both recent grads (within the past five years) and those well
into their careers—face a brutal combination of low compensation and
high unemployment. We also worked with Payscale to determine the
likelihood that recent graduates from each major would end up working in
retail, where a college degree isn't always required, rather than in
their field of study. A ratio of 1.0 is the norm; a ratio of 2.0 means a
graduate of that major is twice as likely to work in retail as the
average college grad.
Check out our list of the 10 worst college majors for your career.
By Caitlin Dewey, Kiplinger.com
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
10. English
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Unemployment rate: 6.7% (average for all graduates with bachelor’s degree: 4.9%)
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 9.2% (average for top 100 majors: 7.7%)
Median salary: $48,000 (median for all grads with bachelor’s: $54,756)
Median salary for recent grads: $32,000 (median for top 100 majors: $37,000)
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 6% (average: 14%)
Likelihood of working retail: 1.4 times average
Author G.K. Chesterton once called literature "a luxury," which
might be true for cash-strapped English grads. A hallmark of most
liberal arts programs, English hasn't fared well in the down economy.
Nearly one in ten recent English grads struggles to find work, and
starting salaries are low, a full 14% below the median for the top 100
majors. More problematic: That situation doesn't improve much with
experience. Even older English grads stand to make nearly $9,000 less
than the median bachelor’s degree holder, who pockets $54,756 a year.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
9. Sociology
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Unemployment rate: 7.0%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 8.6%
Median salary: $45,000
Median salary for recent grads: $32,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 18%
Likelihood of working retail: 1.4 times average
Sociology is one of the most popular undergraduate majors, but
judging by the numbers, it probably shouldn't be. New grads face an
unemployment rate slightly worse than the national average for all
workers and far worse than the average for college-educated ones. Once
they get a job, they can expect to make about 14% less than recent grads
from the top 100 majors. Students interested in the social sciences
should probably check out economics, statistics or political science –
all of which pay better than sociology.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
8. Drama and Theater Arts
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Unemployment rate: 7.1%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 7.8%
Median salary: $40,000
Median salary for recent grads: $26,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 4%
Likelihood of working retail: 2.1 times average
Unless you're Will Smith or Angelina Jolie, drama will probably
not pay off. In fact, the starting salary for a drama and theater arts
major is the lowest on our list – 30% below the median for the top 100
majors and only 2.3 times the federal poverty level. To further
complicate things, theater and film are competitive fields, and job
growth is stalling out. Nearly nine in ten theater grads will end up in
another field, such as office work, education or sales. Drama students
are also more than twice as likely as other college grads to end up
working retail after school.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
7. Liberal Arts
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Unemployment rate: 7.6%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 9.2%
Median salary: $48,000
Median salary for recent grads: $30,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: not available
Likelihood of working retail: 1.8 times average
No matter which college you go to, you're sure to find academics
arguing over the value of the classic liberal arts education. While we
won't take sides, the numbers paint a dim picture: Even experienced
liberal arts grads face low salaries and high unemployment, and nearly
one in ten new grads is unemployed. Three of every four will end up
going to graduate school. You'll have to decide for yourself whether
that springs from a deep-seated love of learning or the otherwise dim
employment prospects.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
6. Studio Arts
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Unemployment rate: 8.0%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 11.1%
Median salary: $37,000
Median salary for recent grads: $35,900
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 5%
Likelihood of working retail: 2.3 times average
Tomorrow's starving artists are today's studio art majors –
statistically speaking, at least. Studio art majors generally study
painting, sculpture or other media in order to become artists
themselves. But as one university career center warns, that's not
exactly a foolproof source of income: Studio art majors lack a "strictly
defined career path," which may explain why the median salary falls 32%
below the average for a college grad with a bachelor’s degree, and
salary-growth prospects are practically zero.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
5. Graphic Design
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Unemployment rate: 8.1%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 11.8%
Median salary: $45,000
Median salary for recent grads: $32,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 13%
Likelihood of working retail: 0.6 times average
The numbers for graphic design aren't pretty, no matter what
font you write them in. Recent grads face low starting salaries and
superhigh unemployment--more than double the 4.9% unemployment rate for
all college grads with bachelor’s degrees. The situation doesn't improve
with time. Even experienced graphic design majors contend with a high
jobless rate, a median salary almost $10,000 below the norm, and a
crowded field with limited advancement opportunities.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
4. Philosophy and Religious Studies
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Unemployment rate: 7.2%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 10.8%
Median salary: $42,000
Median salary for recent grads: $30,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: not available
Likelihood of working retail: 2.0 times average
Philosophy might improve your mind, but it won't do much for
your pocketbook. In fact, the salary prospects for a philosophy major
could be called ascetic. Recent grads make 19% less than young grads
from the top 100 majors, and the gap narrows only slightly for
experienced workers with degrees in philosophy and religious studies.
Among the liberal arts majors, U.S. history and art history both pay
better. Our philosophy, at least, is to look into a major with a better
return on investment.
Worst College Majors for Your Career
3. Film and Photography
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Unemployment rate: 7.3%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 12.9%
Median salary: $45,000
Median salary for recent grads: $30,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 13%
Likelihood of working retail: 2.6 times average
Shutterbugs beware: The new-grad unemployment rate for film and
photography majors is only narrowly better than the rate for high school
dropouts. Film and photo students face tough competition in a crowded
industry, and low starting salaries are the norm even in expensive
industry hubs such as New York and Los Angeles. Interestingly, film and
photography grads are still the best-paid of the art majors, though they
make almost $10,000 less than the typical holder of a bachelor’s
degree.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
2. Fine Arts
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Unemployment rate: 7.4%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 12.6%
Median salary: $44,000
Median salary for recent grads: $30,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 5%
Likelihood of working retail: 1.8 times average
The employment situation for recent art-school grads is anything
but aesthetic. Slow job growth and an abundance of fine-arts majors
means unemployment is high – the second highest on our list. When
fine-arts majors do find jobs, they generally don't pay well. Even
experienced artists can expect to make 20% less than their college
classmates. While few people have ever gone into art for the money, the
East Village isn't as cheap as it used to be.
August 2012
Worst College Majors for Your Career
1. Anthropology
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Unemployment rate: 6.9%
Recent grad employment rate: 10.5%
Median salary: $40,000
Median salary for recent grads: $28,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 21%
Likelihood of working retail: 2.1 times average
Many of today's anthropology grads are studying a culture they
didn't expect: the intergenerational American household, as seen from
their parents' couch. New anthropology majors face stifling
unemployment, forcing nearly a third to take low-paying office or sales
jobs. More dramatically, recent grads stand to make a mere $28,000 per
year – less than the median pay for someone with only a high school
diploma. If foreign cultures are your thing, a major in international
relations promises both a higher salary and lower unemployment rate.
More From Kiplinger
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