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Which U.S. College Major is the Worst for Finding a Job?
Visual Capitalist ^ | 04/01/2024 | Marcus Lu

Posted on 04/01/2024 10:17:48 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Finding a job can often be a Sisyphean task in this rapidly changing modern economy. Highly sought after skills come and go, following the greater tides of technology change, marketplace behavior, and shifting consumer patterns.

After all, take a look at what’s happening in the tech world.

Education plays an important role in this job hunting business of course. And some skill sets are losing their sheen, with their practitioners having a harder time than others in securing gainful employment.

But which ones are the worst right now?

We visualize the top 10 U.S. college majors, ranked by their unemployment rate, including their underemployment rate for additional context. These figures are of recent college graduates (those aged 22–27 with a bachelor’s degree or higher) and are sourced from the New York Federal Reserve, current up to February 2024.

ℹ️ Underemployment is when workers are working less than full-time or in insufficient jobs for their training.

Ranked: U.S. Majors with the Highest Unemployment Rates

Heading the first three spots on this list are all the majors with “art” in their name.

Nearly 8% of recent Art History, Liberal Arts, and Fine Arts graduates are unemployed, with more than 50% of them underemployed.

At fourth place, 7.8% of recent Aerospace Engineering majors have not found a job—a surprising statistic since engineering is regarded as one of the more stable majors to study.

In fact from same data source, Industrial and Mechanical engineers have some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.

However, aerospace engineering jobs tend to be clustered around the big companies in an otherwise small industry, with additional requirements for security clearances. Tellingly, the underemployment rate for aerospace engineering graduates is less than 20%, which is the best out of this list.

At fifth, sixth, and seventh place are History (7.5%), English (6.6%), and Mass Media (6.3%) of which the former two have also seen a rapid decline in undergraduates in the last decade.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Society
KEYWORDS: career; collegemajor; education; empolyment; jobs; labor
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To: SeekAndFind

Women’s Studies


21 posted on 04/02/2024 5:41:14 AM PDT by Steven Tyler
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To: irishjuggler

trust fund majors

art history
archeology
anthropology
English lit
Poetry
Dance


22 posted on 04/02/2024 5:52:26 AM PDT by Chickensoup
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To: SeekAndFind

In case anyone has a question about what are the top degrees for getting a job:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/majors-in-demand

The top ten college majors:

1. Nursing
2. Culinary Arts
3. Computer Science
4. Business Administration
5. Mechanical Engineering
6. Psychology
7. Biology
8. Finance
9. Marketing
10. Environmental Science


23 posted on 04/02/2024 5:56:17 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: Alas Babylon!

The link has psychology at 11 and biology at 21.


24 posted on 04/02/2024 6:06:04 AM PDT by Reily (!!)
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To: rexthecat
I cringe whenever I hear a college student say that they …

The “they” disease is ubiquitous.

25 posted on 04/02/2024 6:06:24 AM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump. A)
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To: irishjuggler

“...but I also question how seriously those rich, beautiful sorority girl are actually seeking jobs.”

It used to be a saying that women went to college to get their “MRS Degrees,” preferably by snaring a future doctor or lawyer.


26 posted on 04/02/2024 6:28:57 AM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: PLMerite

“It used to be a saying that women went to college to get their “MRS Degrees,” preferably by snaring a future doctor or lawyer.”

Many no longer embrace “Mrs degrees” or are sold on needing a man at all. Though many are waking up now to how feminism has sold them into a life of labor and loneliness.

With their careers intact and many well into their 30’s, we will begin to see the aging feminist blue haired INCELS go insane as they realize they have been sold a lie and come to the realization that as their parents pass on, they will spend their remaining years lonely and without children.

BUT, they will likely have some shnazzy career title, or perhaps a 6 figure DEI income, so there’s that.

Post military I had two female roommates. One very attractive named Dawn who was a computer programmer would say, “Any man that can attract and keep me will be 6’2”, muscular, make a 6-figure salary, (this was in the early 90’s), and will want only me and look at no other!”

Sadly, she’s alone and childless today. But does have a good job, so there’s that.


27 posted on 04/02/2024 7:02:22 AM PDT by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: SeekAndFind
I have a bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts. I got it in my late 40s before leaving the military. I was embarrassed to get a Liberal Arts degree; they were worthless even then. The BA was just a stepping stone. I wanted my MBA before I retired; it was a tight schedule. Any other degree would have pushed my MBA past my retirement, and I would have lost Tuition Assistance.
28 posted on 04/02/2024 7:03:21 AM PDT by OldGoatCPO (No Caitiff Choir of Angels will sing for me. )
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To: SeekAndFind

Higher education shouldn’t be just vocational training. As Everett Dean Martin wrote in 1926, “Education is emancipation from herd opinion, self-mastery, capacity for self-criticism, suspended judgment, and urbanity.”

Although they are now widely panned as worthless majors, Liberal Arts, History, and even Art History can contribute to molding a student into an urbane, wise and independent thinker—provided they are well-taught. A student majoring in Liberal Arts at a good college should become familiar with the Great Books of Western civilization. History should make the student aware of where he came from, and Art History should give him knowledge of the great works of art and why they are great. A student who succeeds in these fields will have a good background for his chosen profession and for the pursuit of happiness in life.


29 posted on 04/02/2024 7:09:14 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Bshaw

Well, unmarried with a good job is what some of us wanted. Now enjoying unmarried and retired. Not for everyone, I realize.


30 posted on 04/02/2024 7:11:17 AM PDT by erkelly
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To: catnipman

“[fill in the blank] Studies ...”

My unfinished-degree-major in night school college was Soviet Area Studies. It was actually job-related in the 1980s and the effort helped me get promoted a couple times.


31 posted on 04/02/2024 7:29:38 AM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: Fiji Hill

In the original sense of a liberal education, meaning well rounded and teaching the students how to think rather than what to think, you’re spot on.

In woke world kids learn first what to think axiomatically, second how to be activists, and any “major” is taught as a means to effect the activism.


32 posted on 04/02/2024 7:30:43 AM PDT by No.6
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To: SeekAndFind

Hard to believe my niece, born in 1971, got her diploma in Zoology, in the 1990s. She immediately found work in the Animal pharmaceuticals and has been gainfully employed ever since. Making excellent money at that!

When you consider her mom was born in poverty on the High Plains in 1952. All us kids worked our way out of such poverty.


33 posted on 04/02/2024 7:30:54 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: rexthecat

There are no journalists, only propagandists.


34 posted on 04/02/2024 7:32:03 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

35 posted on 04/02/2024 7:33:46 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: lee martell
I’ve heard of a college which offers a major in studying

This is perhaps the most honest major and college of them all.

Most everything I learned in my Computer Science degree was outdated by the time I graduated.

What my degree truly taught me was how to teach myself, and it also taught me dogged persistance.

36 posted on 04/02/2024 7:36:38 AM PDT by Lazamataz (We are so screwed. We are so screwed. We are so screwed. We are so screwed. We are so screwed. We ar)
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To: SeekAndFind

College is all about networking.


37 posted on 04/02/2024 7:38:01 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

My daughter was an Art major. She worked at the Smithsonian and now she is a Budget Director for a company in CA.


38 posted on 04/02/2024 7:39:49 AM PDT by AppyPappy (Biden told Al Roker "America is back". Unfortunately, he meant back to the 1970's)
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To: dfwgator

39 posted on 04/02/2024 7:50:27 AM PDT by shotgun
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To: shotgun

Shamma Lamma Ding Dong!


40 posted on 04/02/2024 7:52:01 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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