Regular COTTonLINE readers know one of the themes followed in this blog is the importance of occcupational choice/college major in life outcomes. Today’s “brick in the wall” comes from CNBC, the business arm of NBC, its topic: which college majors pay worst and best both at graduation and in mid-career.
Taking the booby prize for worst pay, both immediately and later, is early childhood education. Others not doing at all well include History, Psychology, Recreation, Nutrition, Fine Arts, Social Services, Theology and Education. Who does especially well: engineers, both immediately and later.
Education majors tend to be paid less, as well. While teachers have good job security, summers off and pensions, they’re usually paid by state governments, which have lagged in keeping wages commensurate with inflation. In recent years, the “teacher pay penalty” has gotten worse, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Unfortunately for teachers, they don’t fare much better later in their careers. When looking at “mid-career” graduates — those ages 35 to 45 — education majors are the worst paid among all majors.
I was happy not to see B-school majors listed among the poorly paid. While it is always best to see a clear path between degree major and meaningful career employment, this nostrum isn’t helping education majors in today’s market.
