By Jamie Barrie H old off on that college degree if money is your motivation. A bachelor’s degree is not what is used to be in today’s US job market. The reces- sion of 2007-2010 has made is hard for wages to rise. In fact, wages for college graduates have fallen, a lot. Younger career minded workers are the hardest hit according to an unpublished analysis by the Georgetown University Center on Education. The pain is not being felt equally across all areas. Chemical and computer engineering majors are still seeing realistic starting wages at $60,000 as the main starting point for entry level positions since the recession. The data is not so good for science majors and business grads.
With science major earning $31,000 on average in 2015 for a starting wage which is down 10% from 5 years ago.
Ban Cheah, a research professor at Georgetown who compiled the data
stated,”It has been like this for the past five, six years now,” adding it is a little depressing. The good news is experience still pays. Grads 35 to 54 have not seen a momentous change in their wages over the same period. Technology and automa- tion are at the heart of much of it. Always the enemy of manu- facturing jobs, these two forces are now impacting white collar employment. Roles such as paralegals and researchers are in lessor demand as computers have made some of their functions redundant. There are some degrees that are still highly popular. A petro- leum engineering major with work experience earned $179,000 a year on average in 2015 which is nearly $50,000 more than 5 years earlier. Additionally, philosophy and public policy majors have also seen an increase in wages. You can boost your wages by chasing that graduate degree which is increasingly scoring higher on the salary scale than a basic undergraduate degree. Additionally, things like intern- ships and soft skills mean a lot. Jeff Selingo is a professor of practice at Arizona State University who tells students “Just getting a degree doesn’t matter anymore,” Selingo added ”What matters more are the undergraduate experiences that you have.” So if you are a student it is good to look for co-ops or summer employment that builds your resume not just your bank account. If you are an employer this is a great opportunity to high a student as you might just gain an experienced employee after graduation.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • APRIL 2017
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