Some 43% of College Grads Are Underemployed in First Job

Chances of graduates using some humanities degrees in first job can be better than some vocational degrees like business and fitness studies

By Melissa Korn of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"College graduates who studied homeland security and law enforcement had a 65% probability of being underemployed in their first job out of school, the report found. Those with degrees in psychology and biology stood chances of 54% and 51%, respectively, of working jobs that don’t require college degrees.

Engineers had only a 29% probability of being underemployed, the best outcome for any major."

"While the average starting salary for a bachelor’s degree holder employed in a job that actually requires such a degree is $46,000, underemployed graduates make an average $36,000"

"Graduates of liberal arts areas like philosophy, foreign languages, ethnic and gender studies, history and English all have a better-than-even chance of landing a job that fits their education level.

They may not pay well, with teaching and social services popular destinations, but graduates can expect to fare better in terms of landing credential-appropriate roles than transportation, culinary services, agriculture and public administration majors."

"job prospects and earnings vary widely by college major, with some counterintuitive results. For example, the bottom quartile of architecture and engineering majors earn far less than the top quartile of humanities and social science majors."