College Remains Important but . . . Choosing the Right Major Could be Key to Employment!

As a community, we focus on the T/E school district’s educational quality and its sustainability during these economic challenging times. Many in this community believe that there is a direct correlation between the quality of education provided in this school district and their property values.  For other residents, they look at the quality of our school district as a contributor to their children’s college experience and future job prospects.

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workplace conducted an extensive study on the projection of jobs and education requirements through 2018.  A new report was recently released from the center, ‘Career Clusters: Forecasting Demand for High School through College Jobs 2008 – 2018‘ which offers some interesting trends and forecasts.

Everything we know about the job market tells us that a college degree is a passport to employment that provides a decent wage and benefits, albeit some benefits in the workplace are fading in today’s world.  We all know that having a college degree does not guarantee employment.  However, without a college degree the chances of securing a job providing a decent wage are far less.  The Georgetown study reports that by 2018, 62% of all jobs will require at least some college education.  The United States will need 22 million new college degrees but the study says we will fall short by at least 3 million.

“A bachelor’s degree is still the best path to middle-class employment and wages in the United States, and while those with only a high-school diploma can achieve the same status, it will become harder for them to find and secure such jobs.” according to the study.

The reports indicates that there are jobs for those with high school degrees, but those jobs are mostly in male-dominated careers – manufacturing, architecture and construction, distribution and logistics and hospitality.  The study makes an interesting point that women need education beyond a high school degree to be able to earn the same wage as a man with only a high-school education. This analysis would suggest that at the lower educated levels, women have not advanced as far with their paychecks as those women of higher education.  Although there remains a disparity in many workplaces between the salaries of women and men that gap has become narrower in the last decade.  This report suggests that the paycheck gap between the sexes is wider among the lower educated.  The higher the education, the lesser the salary gap between women and their male counterparts.

Which college degrees have the most employable chances?  What are the top college majors with the highest unemployment rate?

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