Look Before You Leap

That old saying, “You can be anything you want to be!” takes on new meaning in today’s struggling job market. Not all college degrees are created equal. Your choice of college major substantially affects your employment prospects and earnings. What you make depends on what you take. Most young people in college, today, take whatever interests them without thinking what it holds for their futures.

So which college majors are the least valuable in terms of career prospects and expected salary? At the head of the class, anthropology and archeology represent the worst choice of college majors in economic terms. The unemployment rate hovers at around 10.5% and if you are fortunate enough to land a job, the salary is substantially lower than other more lucrative professions. The median salary is around $28,000.

Professions in the arts and humanities are also high on the list of worst college majors. There is very little demand the pay is dismal. Film, video and photographic arts rank in the number two spot coming in at 12.9% unemployment. Philosophy and religious studies has a 10.8% unemployment rate and a median salary of around $30,000.

Non-technical majors suffer an 11.1% unemployment rate; social sciences come in at 8.9%. Law and public policy careers have high unemployment rates, as well.

Arts and social sciences are also harder hit in recessions. When the economy is ticking the demand for art goes up. In a recession, the arts fall prey quickly. The collapse of the housing market means architecture majors now face an unemployment rate of 13.9%. Once architects are hired their salaries can be substantial, however.

The value of specific degree types has transformed dramatically since the early. While a bachelor’s degree was once a general qualification that could land recipients in a number of different jobs, the last three decades have shown increasing specialization and differentiation of earnings across majors. This change has largely been driven by technology, which increased the demand for knowledge-based workers and technical training.

For degrees like teaching, psychology and the arts, if you don’t get a graduate degree, you don’t make much money.

The most important thing is to understand that whether you’re going to get a job and what you’re going to make depends on what you take when getting a degree. All degrees aren’t equal, so you should look before you leap

Source: Goudreau, Jenna. “The 10 Worst College Majors.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2012.