Lowest paying degrees

[Lord Ash]

Ahhh!!!

The Good News

It is a bit depressing when you look at what some of the degrees that lead to the lowest pay are... the arts, drama, music, theology, and of course education (which shows up at #7 and again at #2.) I personally look at some of those areas and think they are SO key to what we consider a culture... is it right that "profit" seems to be the only important factor when it comes to job pay? Is it simply natural?

Definitely makes me worry about the future of careers and fields in the United States that are not directly related to finance... how long will jobs like these be viable? Will they ALWAYS be viable, but not money making?

[Bluedog]

Ha, and here is the opposite in an article also released today:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/0...ollege-majors/

Note that 9 out of the top 10 would simply be engineering majors, but that wouldn't be terribly interesting, so the author groups them in one major in this article.

[snowdenscold]

lowest pay are... the arts, drama, music, theology, and of course education

9 out of the top 10 would simply be engineering majors

This is why I got an engineering degree (and job) and do theology in most of my spare time =)

[Newton_14]

Ahhh!!!

The Good News

It is a bit depressing when you look at what some of the degrees that lead to the lowest pay are... the arts, drama, music, theology, and of course education (which shows up at #7 and again at #2.) I personally look at some of those areas and think they are SO key to what we consider a culture... is it right that "profit" seems to be the only important factor when it comes to job pay? Is it simply natural?

Definitely makes me worry about the future of careers and fields in the United States that are not directly related to finance... how long will jobs like these be viable? Will they ALWAYS be viable, but not money making?

It is depressing. And they just showed the salaries on the news tonight for some of the current child stars. The kid that plays the son on 2 and 1/2 Men gets a cool $250K PER EPISODE. The girl that plays ICARLY gets $180K PER EPISODE.

Yet our teachers are going broke. But like you said, it is depressing. Not only salaries but the ability to get a job. So many jobs are getting "outsourced" to China, India, and Mexico it has taken a toll. My wife has a 4 year degree in computer science with 19 years as a programmer with IBM and Lenovo and cannot sniff a job. It has been 2 years this month since she was laid off. Lenovo moved her job to China.

It is just tough. I have no idea what profession to encourage my kids to go into. Short of doctor or lawyer, what professions will have demand in the good ol USA? Scary.

[Indoor66]

It is depressing. And they just showed the salaries on the news tonight for some of the current child stars. The kid that plays the son on 2 and 1/2 Men gets a cool $250K PER EPISODE. The girl that plays ICARLY gets $180K PER EPISODE.

Yet our teachers are going broke. But like you said, it is depressing. Not only salaries but the ability to get a job. So many jobs are getting "outsourced" to China, India, and Mexico it has taken a toll. My wife has a 4 year degree in computer science with 19 years as a programmer with IBM and Lenovo and cannot sniff a job. It has been 2 years this month since she was laid off. Lenovo moved her job to China.

It is just tough. I have no idea what profession to encourage my kids to go into. Short of doctor or lawyer, what professions will have demand in the good ol USA? Scary.

Maybe an Interstate exit corner with a pleading sign?

[4decadedukie]

I understand that some individuals may find this "depressing," but it is hardly surprising, since the same academic concentration/salary paradigm has applied for decades. People make choices -- that's called freedom -- however, in our society they should be accountable for the consequences of their decisions. Many of those "low salary graduates" apparently opt to receive their compensation -- in large part -- through non-monetary means.

[ForeverBlowingBubbles]

It is depressing. And they just showed the salaries on the news tonight for some of the current child stars. The kid that plays the son on 2 and 1/2 Men gets a cool $250K PER EPISODE. The girl that plays ICARLY gets $180K PER EPISODE.

Yet our teachers are going broke. But like you said, it is depressing. Not only salaries but the ability to get a job. So many jobs are getting "outsourced" to China, India, and Mexico it has taken a toll. My wife has a 4 year degree in computer science with 19 years as a programmer with IBM and Lenovo and cannot sniff a job. It has been 2 years this month since she was laid off. Lenovo moved her job to China.

It is just tough. I have no idea what profession to encourage my kids to go into. Short of doctor or lawyer, what professions will have demand in the good ol USA? Scary.

I agree for the most part, except for the fact that a larger portion of our doctors are coming from overseas now (they work for much less), and there are not many law jobs out there for new graduates (even graduates from tier 1 schools are having an extremely tough time).

If I was graduating high school right now, I would take an electronic warfare, intel, or com job in the military to avoid debt, get on the job experience, get the GI, have a guaranteed job, and have a chance to hold out for a few years to see if this country can figure out a way to continue to support three hundred million people. If we end up defaulting as a country, I have a weird feeling we are actually going to need an expanded military.