First-time data on what a college major is worth
We have been debating college debt and whether a degree is worth the cost.
Here is a great new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce that addresses that question using first-time ever Census data.
In a nutshell: Yes, a degree still pays off, but particular degrees pay off a lot more.
“What really matters in the end is your major,” said center director Anthony P. Carnevale in a media call today.
From the center:
On average, bachelor’s degrees pay off. But a new study confirms that some undergraduate majors pay off a lot more than others. In fact, the difference in earnings potential between one major and another can be more than 300 percent.
Using United States Census data available for the first time, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce is helping Americans connect the dots between college majors and career earnings. In the new report, What’s it Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors, this first-time research demonstrates just how critical the choice of major is to a student’s median earnings.
While there is a lot of variation in earnings over a lifetime, the authors find that all undergraduate majors are worth it, even taking into account the cost of college and lost earnings. However, the lifetime advantage ranges from $1,090,000 for Engineering majors to $241,000 for Education majors.
“The bottom line is that getting a degree matters, but what you take matters more,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, the center’s director. The new report analyzes 171 majors in 15 categories. It tracks earnings by majors and provides key break outs on questions of race/ethnicity and the gender differences in earnings.
The report finds that majors are highly segregated by race/ethnicity and gender, with few exceptions. White men are concentrated in the highest-earning majors, while women tend to be concentrated in the lowest-earning majors.
The top 10 majors with the highest median earnings are: Petroleum Engineer ($120,000); Pharmacy/pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration ($105,000); Mathematics and Computer Sciences ($98,000); Aerospace Engineering ($87,000); Chemical Engineering ($86,000); Electrical Engineering ($85,000); Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering ($82,000); Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering and Mining and Mineral Engineering (each with median earnings of $80,000).
The 10 majors with the lowest median earnings are Counseling/Psychology ($29,000); Early Childhood Education ($36,000); Theology and Religious Vocations ($38,000); Human Services and Community Organizations ($38,000); Social Work ($39,000); Drama and Theater Arts, Studio Arts, Communication Disorders Sciences and Services, Visual and Performing Arts, and Health and Medical Preparatory Programs (each at $40,000).
Unfortunately, race and gender earnings gaps still exist in almost all fields. For example, even in their highest paid major, electrical engineering, African-Americans still earn $22,000 less than Whites and $12,000 less than Asians with the same major.
Women tend to hold the majority of degrees in many of the lower-paying fields such as education, but even women with degrees in the higher-paying field of chemical engineering earn, on average, $20,000 less than equally educated male counterparts.
Liberal Arts and Humanities majors end up in the middle of the pack in terms of earnings and employment. They are the third most popular major group, and earn median incomes of $47,000. Moreover, about 40 percent of people with these majors obtain a graduate degree, reaping a return of almost 50 percent. Liberal Arts and Humanities majors generally fare well in the workforce, ending up in professional, white-collar, and education occupations.
As to the question of graduate degrees, the report reveals that obtaining a graduate-level degree does lead to higher earnings, but how much in additional earnings is also driven by what you study. The highest earnings bump in graduate degrees can be found in the areas related to healthcare and biology: Health and Medical Preparatory Programs (190 percent); Miscellaneous Social Sciences (134 percent); and Zoology (123 percent). Meanwhile, the majors in which students have shown the lowest earnings boost from advanced degrees are: Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (1 percent); Studio Arts (3 percent); and Petroleum Engineering (7 percent).
In today’s challenging jobs economy, there are some fields with virtually no unemployment: Geological and Geophysical Engineering; Military Technologies; Pharmacology, and School Student Counseling.
While majors with the highest unemployment rates are in the fields of: Social Psychology (16 percent); Nuclear Engineering (11 percent); and Educational Administration and Supervision (11 percent).
The analyses contained in the report are based on newly released data from the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS). For the first time in this survey the Census Bureau asked individuals who indicated that their degree was a bachelor’s degree or higher, to supply their undergraduate major. Their responses were then coded and collapsed by the Census Bureau into 171 different degree majors. Unlike other data sources focused on recent degree recipients, the Census data enables analysis across an individual’s full life cycle.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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76 comments Add your comment
teacher&mom
May 24th, 2011
1:11 pm
Well this is encouraging news for all those “top-tier” graduates lined up to major in education
Mac
May 24th, 2011
1:15 pm
But, but, teachers make too much money!!!!!
Mari Stilson
May 24th, 2011
1:19 pm
Thanks, Maureen, some friends and I were just talking about this a few weeks ago. I am in college now and soon will have two kids in also..this helps provide some guidance towards career choice/majors. Appreciate the update.
Another Math Teacher
May 24th, 2011
1:25 pm
Maybe Education majors are at the bottom because it’s a read and regurgitate degree. I’ve seen the tougher majors lose people due to the difficulty of the subject matter, I have never heard of someone dropping Education to go to an easier major. (Unless that easier major was Educational Administration.)
David Sims
May 24th, 2011
1:32 pm
“Unfortunately, race and gender earnings gaps still exist in almost all fields. For example, even in their highest paid major, electrical engineering, African-Americans still earn $22,000 less than Whites and $12,000 less than Asians with the same major.”
Whatever gave this writer the idea that competition is over once people graduate from school? No way. The better performers will rise faster, gain wider recognition for their skills, and, most probably, earn more. Not all electrical engineers are equals. Some of them can do more than others. Racial inequalities in income are much too readily blamed on racism, I think.
CJJScout
May 24th, 2011
1:35 pm
Sad that we don’t pay our teachers more, considering that they are part of the foundation for what our youngans will be learning. If teachers came out of school earning $100k, you’d see some of the best and brightest heading there. Sadly, you often get the bottom of the barrel because that is all some people can hope to do.
And before I get flamed, I’m the child of a teacher and the husband of a teacher (both of them have masters degrees, too). I basically learned the above from them talking about their peers.
bob leblah
May 24th, 2011
1:47 pm
@CJJ So you’re telling me that your parent and wife were teachers and you got their “unbiased” opinion that teachers should make $100k?
I’m sure if you paid them as much aeronautical engineers or surgeons, it would draw bright people too. You want taxpayers to pay a 1st grade teacher 100k out of school.. I agree the teacher bar needs to be raised, but thats not the only problem. The lowest rung students (parents) cause our education system to be stuck in neutral in a lot of cases.
BillM
May 24th, 2011
1:50 pm
The analysis needs to include the months or years wating for a job in the major, not just the starting salary. It would make majors like “english” look like an even poorer choice.
Nothing wrong with majoring in anything you like, just don’t complain about your student loans and hope that we will bail you out.
RJ
May 24th, 2011
2:03 pm
While I wasn’t an education major, I didn’t find my education courses to be as easy breezy as some seem to think. Perhaps it has to do with my area of study. I will say that if given the chance to go back, I would never be an engineering major. Regardless of the income potential, it’s not of interest to me.
As a parent I will push my kids to do what they enjoy. I just don’t want them to be teachers. That decision I can’t support. We come from a long line of educators, but that line needs to end with me.
Just A Teacher
May 24th, 2011
2:11 pm
Again, I go back to my previous post. College is supposed to be about improving your mind. I don’t understand all this emphasis on making money. Certainly, everyone wants to be able to make a living, but, if you focus on studying something that you love and make that your vocation, you will find a way to make ends meet. I can’t imagine anything worse than spending 4 years and a lot of money on learning about something that I found uninteresting. And then, if I had to go to work every day for the rest of my life in that field, I believe I’d go insane. I work in a job that doesn’t pay much, but I enjoy my work. That is much more important to me than being handed a bunch of paper that continues to decrease in value anyway. Go to college to learn, kids, and you’ll be just fine. Don’t choose your major based on what you can make. The prisons are full of people who wanted to make money rather than make a difference.
Vino Greasemanelli
May 24th, 2011
2:30 pm
Major in “Women’s Studies” or “African-American History”. That way you can enjoy a challenging position at Wal-Mart.
Angela
May 24th, 2011
2:46 pm
@bob leblah
May 24th, 2011
1:47 pm
@CJJ So you’re telling me that your parent and wife were teachers and you got their “unbiased” opinion that teachers should make $100k?
I’m sure if you paid them as much aeronautical engineers or surgeons, it would draw bright people too. You want taxpayers to pay a 1st grade teacher 100k out of school.. I agree the teacher bar needs to be raised, but thats not the only problem. The lowest rung students (parents) cause our education system to be stuck in neutral in a lot of cases.
******************************************************************************************************************
Well, I do agree that perhaps teachers should not come out of college making 100k however, it should be much higher than 36k. It should be in the area of 48-50k. In education the higher the degree the higher the pay. Well that is now being challenged and about to change. Education is the only scrutinized profession in the United States and the least respected in the United States. An engineer could not be an engineer if a teacher did not prepare him as well as any other profession. At the hold of 2 and above degrees teachers still do not earn what they have put into obtaining these higher degrees. Yet, we complain that teacher should not start at 100k however, those who hold 2 and above degrees should not begin earning anything less than 65-70k.
To speak on how little teachers are respected continue to read some of the post.
@RJ has made a clear statement that he/she pushes their kids to do what they enjoy but does not want them to become teachers. That screams a lack of respect for teachers and truly does not allow their kids to do what they truly enjoy. It merely allows them to do what you deem they should enjoy and reeks of control.
@CJJScout
It is sad that I do not earn more and not only do I not earn more but my pay check is over 500 short each and every month from my previous pay before cuts. What bothers me the most is that my pay has been cut and the intrim-super is being paid very close to 300k and there is not talk that I know of to give back our salaries. I would love to have a raise but I need my suppose to be salary back more than anything. The cut in pay has cost me a lot and placed me in a position that I worked and fought extremely hard not to be placed in every again – so I thought. I well realize that I am blessed compared to so many others however, I just want my money back. And, if we are speaking of how much teachers should be paid per degree that salary is not where it should be either.
RJ
May 24th, 2011
2:55 pm
@Angela, as a veteran educator, it is not I that lacks respect for teachers, but the rest of society. I would rather they save themselves the heartache of being a teacher. Heck, I rarely even “teach”. But that’s another story for another day (and no, it has less to do with discipline and more to do with what the administration feels I should be “doing” at the moment).
They are already very much aware of what they enjoy, and teaching wouldn’t be it. But thanks for your input. Have a great day!
Dr NO
May 24th, 2011
2:56 pm
David Sims
May 24th, 2011
1:32 pm
Well you have done it now Mister. The AJC commies will be coming for you.
FBT
May 24th, 2011
3:04 pm
Did the study adjust the wages for the number of hours paid to work? Teachers are usually not paid for summer months. Teaching looks much better when you adjust for the months off.
Angela
May 24th, 2011
3:20 pm
@FBT
I am not sure where you got your information from but all public school personnel are paid during the summer unless they opt out. Our pay is set-up for that each fiscal year.
HS Public Teacher
May 24th, 2011
3:23 pm
Is anyone really shocked by this information?
I think that the only ones shocked would be the idiots on these blogs that continue to say that teachers are over paid!
DW
May 24th, 2011
3:26 pm
While I do agree with Just a Teacher, I feel the time and money I put into not only a BS in Biology and then a MS was completely wasted. Unless you can move to one of the bigger Biotech areas these degrees are worthless in the Atlanta area.
bob leblah
May 24th, 2011
3:27 pm
@Angela- What does this mean? “Education is the only scrutinized profession in the United States and the least respected in the United States” the 2nd part I disagree.
An engineer is trained by another engineer that happens to teach. An engineer goes and builds things and it is not easy to become an engineer. I have met many teachers that aren’t very bright, that do well in getting a bach of edu. How did you arrive at $48-50k for a starting teacher? Is that something you arbitrarily came up with?
BTW- you do get $48k to start just about… you get nearly $36 for 9 months of work.
That being said, some teachers are worth more, agreed. Some are not worth the $30k they get out of school.
Inman Park
May 24th, 2011
3:29 pm
I really think that when we think of a college education in terms of dollars and cents we devalue the collegiate experience. A philosopher said that an “unexamined life is not worth living,” and I would add that an uneducated life is not worth living. My liberal arts educatin provided me with immeasurable joy, and I am able to appreciate my world and the people in it. If the dollars and cents are fewer than those earned by the “hard” science students, then so be it. .
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
3:31 pm
for those of you who have kids about to go to college and are still in college yourself, if you need career counseling from an AJC blog, you most likely demand to be spoon fed your entire existence, and no length of education will help you make more $$$. I guess i knew the information in this article in about the 8th grade.
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
3:31 pm
an unnamed philosphor? just admit you made up the dippy quote yourself.
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
3:34 pm
very few have little respect for educators(teachers prior to political correctness – thank you feminism!); however many, especially those who dont, or never will, have kids in the public school system tire of funding the system/teachers – especially when those teachers have the image of being ingrates – if you make over $50,000 teaching in a public school system, especially if you are NOT in jr or middle school, you should thank you maker everyday – you have a great job with tons of time off (assumes of course that you entered the teaching profession becasue you LOVED to teach).
Angela
May 24th, 2011
3:35 pm
@RJ
Thank you for correcting me. However, I did not encourage my daughter to become a teacher and neither did I not encourage her. She is a high school teacher and although it is not a peice of cake it still has its rewards.
I can understand, relate and agree with what you say about administration however, when we as educators don’t uphold our own perfession it gracefully allows those who on this blog the government and all others add merit to their disrespect for OUR profession.
I am looking forward to retiring in the very near future however, it is not because of all the above mentioned but because I want to write my book to disclose a lot of facts and fiction.
But you too have a great and peaceful summer! I also, wish your children the best and much success at what ever they decide to pursue even if it is education perhaps they can make a change in all of the bull………………….
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
3:36 pm
DW – that would be your fault completely for not understanding your job market, yes? If you have the MS, start your own business – or please, stop the whining.
What's best for kids?
May 24th, 2011
3:38 pm
Angela, we are paid over the summer, but our pay is prorated. We work 190 days, and are paid for 190 days stretched out over 12 months. And RJ is right; I make a decent wage for the 190 days I work. Unfortunately, I work in the summers and over the break, too. I guess everyone who is a salaried employee works overtime without pay on occasion.
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
3:44 pm
Angela – you need to analyze the cost/benefit of what you are talking about. Starting salary of $50,000? for a person with a BS/BA that must be funded via proporty tax? Not realistic. If you have a masters in history, bio, math – then yes, you should be starting out close to $50,000 – but that would be in HS & you would be dealing with a lot of redneck authority problems in GA (that is not the case in the NE).
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
3:45 pm
the typical factory worker labors 250 days a week – 60 less days is 2 months of time; this works out to about 16% less.
Angela
May 24th, 2011
3:55 pm
@What’s best for kids?
Sweetheart I know that MY pay is prorated for me to be paid over the summer. However, it is set for proration at the beginning of each fiscal year with the budget is set.
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
3:59 pm
the proration is a wise method of payment – although the teacher works the 190 days, being able to receive that consistent throughout the year paycheck (monthly or every other week) is convenient for the teacher, and I would think the teacher would prefer this method – especially since it is probably direct deposit and should not cast the local district any extra funds.
JTW
May 24th, 2011
4:06 pm
What you take doesn’t matter nearly as much as where you take it. An art history major from Princeton will almost invariably outearn a petroleum engineering major from Texas A&M.
Maureen Downey
May 24th, 2011
4:17 pm
@JTW, Actually, Dr. Carnevale addressed that very point in his media call — occupation trumps grades, college and SAT scores. Based on the data, an art history major from Princeton likely will not exceed the lifetime earnings of a petroleum engineer from Texas A&M.
Maureen
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
4:41 pm
JTW – that is the success of the propoganda of the private schools, especially the Ivy Leaguers (however, it is false). They have also effectively taught their MBA’s that ethics are irrelevent when negotiating CEO bonuses.
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
4:45 pm
Just a Teacher – sorry, but if that is the way you genuinely look at higher ed, you better hope your parents are wealthy or you marry a wealthy spouse.
JTW
May 24th, 2011
4:47 pm
“…occupation trumps grades, college and SAT scores.”
Occupation or major? I’m not saying the Princeton grad is working as an art historian (more than likely he’s in finance or consulting), just that he’s earning more with an art history degree.
Maureen Downey
May 24th, 2011
5:03 pm
@JTW: He talked about occupation as a category. He was asked specifically if the data showed that the college, GPA or SAT scores aligned with how much people earned and he said the major factor in earning power was the occupation. In the case of the petroleum engineer, the person’s job and major are the same.
Your example — the Princeton art history major turned financier — is a bit different. He did acknowledge that overall starting salaries for Harvard grads are higher than their peers — except in education where he said salaries are fixed and an Ivy League degree would not give you an edge. But in terms of career earnings, the higher pay was determined by the field.
Maureen
Another Math Teacher
May 24th, 2011
5:12 pm
Paddy O:
“the proration is a wise method of payment – although the teacher works the 190 days, being able to receive that consistent throughout the year paycheck (monthly or every other week) is convenient for the teacher, and I would think the teacher would prefer this method – especially since it is probably direct deposit and should not cast the local district any extra funds.”
It’s a free loan to the school system. It hurts the teacher, as they would draw interest on the money if it was paid when earned.
Just A Teacher
May 24th, 2011
5:25 pm
@ Paddy O . . . That is how I feel about higher education, and I am a veteran teacher who enjoys my job. I have endured over 2 years of having my salary cut and several furlough days, but I know that I make a difference in the lives of my students every day. I will never be wealthy, but I will be remembered for my contribution to the human race. My spouse works as a waitress, so we can make ends meet. I was the first in my family to attend college, and I learned a lot from the books that I devoured while working towards my BA / English and MA / Theatre. I have a lot of debt and way too much to do on my job, but I get up every morning knowing that there are people looking forward to seeing me and who care about what happens to me. Can you say the same? Was the cost of my education worth it? Yes, it lifted me out of a monotonous existence working in a factory and allows me to be paid for doing what I love. What do teachers make? We make a difference!
John Konop
May 24th, 2011
5:38 pm
Maureen,
I have a question for you about the best return on investment for students’ future.
Since many vocational/Tech jobs like a Medical Technologist pay better than 4 year liberal arts degree jobs do you not think vocational education is not a smarter path in some cases than a 4 year degree?
And should we not open this option at the high school over promoting No Child Left Behind 4 year college path or out curriculum especially for at risk kids dropping out?
BTW a Licensed Beautician makes more money than many liberal arts majors.
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
6:02 pm
Just a Teacher – I consider teaching to an EXCELLENT career choice – if YOU love teaching. I doubt much else trumps watching a child learn to read, or absorbing addition, plus all the other higher knowledge functions. You as a teacher, I can see where you are coming from. When I was in school, there was a much wider spread feeling that society was making good progress – there was classes on objectification of people and how it was damaging to the individual and society should move away from this. For whatever reasons, society failed to keep up with this ethos. I, and everybody else who attended school should always be forever in debt to teachers. But, college, due to the insane cost (and college Presidents who apparently like to pad their resumes by successfully erecting buildings during their tenure to create a club med atmosphere on their campuses), must be put through a cost/benefit analysis by the attendees. Personally, I enlisted in the US Army for their Army College Fund, so I would not come out with a whole lot of debt. Most savvy teachers, who obtain their masters, certificate and Dr – from what I understand – receive quite a bit of salary bumps for each degree – my understanding is (or was) $5000 per degree. Also, many teachers gamed this system by earning PHD’s in Education Administration, so they could go into admin – Vice Principals & Principals. However, either the testing system in GA is off, or all this bonus pay did not provide much bang for the buck – so you now see a retrenching – teachers being laid off, class room size increasing.
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
6:07 pm
Math teacher – what is the school system doing with this free $$$? Funding venture capitalism? If a specific teacher has organized their life so well that that missing money could be invested, then they should be able to take all that summer $$ and just invest it then, only losing about 8 months of interest on a rather small amount of $$, so I don’t see the stimulus for the conspiracy theory – do you have more data on that?
Paddy O
May 24th, 2011
6:08 pm
What women in general don’t seem to understand is that the employer/employee relationship is adversarial (at least in business/private sector). The individual who does the best negotiating/leveraging obtains the highest salary. White males just happen to be more adept at this than other sectors of our society. Most of our fast food restaurants want cheap, maleable (exploitable) employees – which is why 90% of those employees are now female (also is part time with no benefits, so it appears to fit the female schedule better).
catlady
May 24th, 2011
6:58 pm
How much float does the system get on the money it portions out to teachers? Does the money from the state arrive on the 15th, for example, yet teachers get paid on the last day of the month? Perhaps Dr. T or Tony could tell us about this?
Dekalb Oldtimer
May 24th, 2011
7:53 pm
Just a comment or two :
My undergrad major was NOt “education:” However, after a few years, I decided that I wanted to teach. Went back to get my MAT . Cannot tell you how stunned I was at the simplicity of the classes I was required to take. Most of them consisted of a professor sitting in front, while the students “presented ” on assigned topics. I thought I was paying tuition to get the benefit of the skills and information that the professors could impart. Instead, I was listening to the results of the research that the student sitting next to me had found.
I will have to say, that I should have had a clue,though. When I was struggling with Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Shakespeare, etc. in undergrad, those who were the Ed majors, were {ADMITTEDLY} coasting through “Kiddie Lit”.
Dekalb Oldtimer
May 24th, 2011
7:57 pm
IMO…middle and high school teachers should have a degree in the subject they are going to teach.
NOT in Science ed. or Social Studies ed. or Math ED…or language arts ed…..Big Big problem !!!! A degree in English Lit…..American History, Chemistry, MicroBiology, etc…DUH!!!!!
SLP
May 24th, 2011
8:28 pm
Under majors with lowest salary is Communication Disorders Sciences. Is that for people with only an undergraduate degree? If so, it may make sense as the fields in that area are Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology which require graduate level degrees to practice.
Another Math Teacher
May 24th, 2011
9:59 pm
Paddy O:
“the typical factory worker labors 250 days a week – 60 less days is 2 months of time; this works out to about 16% less.”
Ya know, it seems you mean well, but you are uninformed on some of these stats.
250 days a year at 8 hours per day. (Overtime if working more.) That’s 2000 hours a year.
You are also claiming that teachers work 16% less. That puts your estimate at 1680 hours a year for a teacher. That is nowhere near correct. I am one of the more efficient teachers in grading work and planning. I see many putting in longer hours than I do. In 2009-2010 I put in 2350 hours. There is no overtime. That puts my work at a 47.5 hour work week for 50 weeks a year. (Of course, my hours are packed into a 10 month time frame.) That puts me at 18.75% MORE time than the average hourly employee you cite.
If you want to debate paying people by the number of days worked, why not make the factory workers work 16 hour days and cut their days in half? After all, they would have all that extra vacation time, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind that their pay remained the same per day.
As for the interest and float – for the individual worker it is not a big deal. For a school system, it would probably amount to somewhere in the range of 80-120 k a year. How many school systems are there in Georgia?
Lee
May 24th, 2011
10:26 pm
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has some very detailed information related to salaries. Here is the info for Atlanta:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12060.htm
Here are a few avg annual salaries:
Accountant $72410
Chemical Engineer $85130
Civil Engineer $74420
Teacher $54300
The biggest surprise for me was a vetinarian $76650
BTW, if you calculate salaries on a daily basis, that teacher salary would pro-rate to about $67160, which is pretty dang close to other salaried professionals.
DJ
May 25th, 2011
12:30 am
The other detail missing in the salaries is the area or work in a profession. A ChE in sales makes less than a ChE in manufacturing; except after 20 years. So women enter in the “soft” side of the field will be paid less that the hard “manufacturing” side of the field. If this data ( about job description) had been available it wold have added more clarity
Bob Smyth
May 25th, 2011
2:38 am
In finding my first job after college, I fund the following article very helpful http://expertbeacon.com/seeking-and-winning-your-first-job-after-college