With the job market becoming more and more saturated with qualified, educated candidates, today’s college students face the daunting prospect of graduating without being able to find work. Certain industries, however have a proportionately higher demand for recently graduated talent. Employment statistics for the following seven college majors have been pulled from StraighterLine.com.
1. Agriculture and Natural Resources
With an ever expanding population, the United States has a growing demand for food, water, and primary manufacturing goods. Technology and management practices in this sector continue to evolve at a rapid pace, and so too does demand for talented professionals to help address some of today’s problems. The unemployment rate for recent graduates with a degree in Agriculture or Natural Resources hovers around a measly 4.5%.
2. Physical Sciences
The “hard sciences” have always been reliable disciplines to follow for those hoping to gain employment after college, and it’s no different today. With practical applications ranging from pharmaceutical development to designing new forms of harvesting clean energy, degrees in chemistry, biology, and other physical sciences continue to provide students with promise of rewarding careers. And with a recent graduate unemployment rate of only 5%, you’re sure to have no problem landing your dream job.
3. Education
With more and more high-school graduates electing to continue their educations every year, demand for education professionals is at an all-time high. Whether you want to teach at a college level or if you’d rather teach younger children, a degree in education will almost guarantee your ability to find meaningful work after college, with the unemployment rate for those recently graduated at a mere 5.25%.
4. Industrial Arts, Consumer Services, and Recreation
Think of this as your ticket to a career in hospitality. Leisure activities such as travel or consumption of the arts continue to prove a formidable economic force in today’s society. Moreover, with the high ticket price of some of these activities, people have always found careers in the industry to be quite lucrative. There remains high demand for everything from theater management to talent conscription to travel agency, with the industry unemployment rate for recent graduates sitting at 5.4%.
5. Health
Healthcare really is one of the huge employment opportunities for college graduates. Society will never have a shortage of demand for doctors and nurses, and this is just as true now as it’s ever been. A degree in healthcare can pave the way for you to become a well respected (and, equally importantly, well paid!) professional. There exists a huge variety of career opportunities for students who follow this educational path, and the need for qualified individuals working in our hospitals and clinics goes without saying. As a result, healthcare professions also provide a great deal of job security, with the recently graduated unemployment rate holding steady at 6.1%.
6. Engineering
Perhaps even more varied than the career possibilities for someone with a degree in health are the avenues for an engineer to follow. From mechanical to civil to petroleum to natural energy, engineers of all types are needed in virtually every industry in our economy. It is a complex, detail-oriented area of study, but those who graduate with a degree in engineering find themselves looking at an industry unemployment rate of only 6.5%.
7. Business
Last but certainly not least on our list is business. Every productive entity in our economy, whether a for-profit retail outlet or an EPA funded water treatment facility, has by necessity a management hierarchy. A solid understanding of efficient business practices will always be in high demand, and as a result, those who graduate with a business degree face an industry unemployment rate of merely 7%.
