Nursing graduates have lowest unemployment rate, study finds

Akron Beacon Journal

Nursing school graduates have one of the lowest unemployment rates for any profession in the country.

Researchers at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce examined 2009 and 2010 U.S. census data to determine what college majors are most likely to lead to jobs.

“Hard Times, College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings 2013: Not All College Degrees are Created Equal” says the unemployment rate for recent nursing grads is 4 percent.

Meanwhile, the typical unemployment rate for majors in many liberal arts fields is double that, and that of architecture and fine arts graduates is more than triple at 13.9 and 11.1 percent, respectively.

What the researchers don’t know is if the graduates were working in their major. Some college majors don’t have clear career paths.

That was reflected in unemployment rates for ethnic and civilization studies (10.1 percent) and philosophy and religious studies (10.8 percent).

Other majors, such as architecture, have suffered in the economic downturn, although their unemployment is gradually getting better, said Tony Carnevale, director of Georgetown’s education center.

In fact, only 50 to 54 percent of recent college grad work in their majors, Carnevale said in an interview.

That means that some “employed” college graduates really might be working in fields once reserved for high school graduates: the English major driving a cab, for instance.

That can be an expensive outcome, given the cost of college.

“There is lots of pressure now to find out what the value of the college major is,” Carnevale said.

He said that graduates with certificates in heating and air conditioning from a community college can make more than typical graduates with bachelor’s degrees.

Although nursing might be the fastest route to a paycheck, other majors can eclipse it in salary, according to the Georgetown study.

Electrical engineering ($57,000), mechanical engineering ($58,000) and civil engineering ($50,000) pay more at the start than nursing ($48,000). Same with graduate degrees: Those in nursing earn $81,000 compared with $107,000 for majors in pharmaceutical sciences and administration, $96,000 for chemistry majors and $101,000 for economics majors.

STAN CARROLL/ THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES Recent nursing school graduates, such as these at Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, have a low rate of unemployment. And unlike many liberal arts majors, they’re likely to find jobs in their field of study, rather than having to take low-paying jobs...