Posted on 11/18/2014 7:48:55 AM PST by SeekAndFind
When deciding on a college major, students are encouraged to think about a few things: what they love to do; what they want to do; what jobs they imagine themselves in; and what the earning and growth potential is like for those careers.
For instance, they'd probably want to know ahead of time that Human Services majors only see their annual pay increase by about $7,500, or 22%, over the first 10 years of their careers, compared to the average American worker, whose salary grows by about $25,000, or 60%, in that time.
That's according to Payscale, the creator of the world's largest compensation database with more than 40 million salary profiles. It recently looked at the difference between starting (less than five years of experience) and mid-career (10 or more years of experience) pay by college major, and determined the 13 majors with the smallest salary growth.
"We're not trying to discourage students from pursuing these majors — we're simply offering information so that students can make informed choices and get the most out of their degree, whatever major they choose," says Kayla Hill, a research analyst at Payscale.
Among the majors, Child Development has the lowest starting salary ($32,200) and mid-career pay ($36,400) — and shows the least amount of growth in the first 10 years ($4,200, or 13%).
"Human support service majors tend to be paid less across the board," Hill explains. "Child Development workers in particular may see less growth over time because it is a field that tends to be undervalued by society. Additionally, childcare workers may not have the same opportunities for advancement as more technical jobs, where learning new skills can lead to a pay bump or promotion."
Human Services majors had the second lowest salary growth between starting and mid-career,
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“Recreation & Leisure Studies”
Seriously - WHY is this even a subject in college?
A friend of mine, in HR, was sent a book of resumes of graduate students from a major state university.
Nearly every one of those kids was majoring with a concentration in some green/renewables/sustainability garganzola.
No, that one is Procreation & Leisure Studies.
FOOTBALL!
Philosophy majors from rigorous programs do very well indeed. Probably the highest-IQ set you’ll find anywhere. I can’t think of a philosophy major I knew who isn’t either a multi-millionaire or a tenured professor at a very respectable school (in several fields). Most became computer programming whizzes along the way.
I knew a few Peace Studies majors. Also very smart kids. Hippies, obviously, but it hasn’t held ‘em back. One went into organic agriculture VERY early and has several bicycles worth more than my car. Couple went corporate and are doing fine. Couple are still hippies but boy they look fit and happy with their 15-years-younger girlfriends on Facebook.
English? Real grab bag. The ones who went to law school have high-powered careers of the sorts that people who go to good law schools (used to be) more or less assured of. Kind of functions as a “yes I got a college degree more rigorous than mass communications or early-childhood education” stamp on your resume — what you make of it.
“Recreation & Leisure Studies”
Seriously - WHY is this even a subject in college?
___________________________
So that the athletes can get good grades enough to qualify to play for the college team.
RE: Philosophy majors from rigorous programs do very well indeed. Probably the highest-IQ set you’ll find anywhere.... Most became computer programming whizzes along the way.
Not surprised. GOOD LOGIC is necessary for a career in computer programming.
Amen. Back when the Libs were all poking fun at Don Rumsfeld for his known unknowns and unknown unknowns, I knew they had all failed freshman year Logic.
Course content of major included a number of science/psuedoscience classes —human physiology, several courses in psychology (clinical, counseling, abnormal, child etc.).
“Undervalued by Society” — really means has a lower value to society. “Undervalued” is simply the author’s personal opinion about the value, while the actual salary is a decent reflection of the true value of work to society.
Now, why should someone who does a job expect salary increases at all? If they get “better” at the job, and being “better” translates into being more productive at the job, then they might be worth more money.
Sometimes, a company might pay a worker more if they have stayed at the job, simply because there is some value in loyalty, relative to having to worry about training a new worker.
But beyond that, we are much to expecting of getting paid more just for aging another year. Unions do that, which is why so many companies driven by unions falter. Because really — is there any advantage to having the welds on your car done by a guy who worked 30 years, rather than a girl who did it 5 years? After a few months you are adequate for the task — it isn’t an art, really — and you can’t charge more for a car by saying “it was welded by people with 30 years of experience”.
In fact, this seniority pay is the number one cause of the REAL women’s pay gap. Because women were late entering the work force, they have fewer years, and even though they have the SAME skills and are doing the SAME job as men, they get paid less because the union REQUIRES it.
If you look at fields where pay doesn’t go up much, it is mostly fields where it would be easy to bring in a brand-new worker, and get them up to speed quickly. How hard is it to train someone to throw trash in the back of a truck?
For the same reason there are internet and phone scams.
It so happens that I know a lot of journalism majors myself :)
When I dropped out, tuition was a small fraction of what it is today. It was overpriced even then.
Today, I'm rich. But I didn't get that way by investing in overpriced assets, such as a College Education, thank you very much!
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