Jobs for College Grads: Go for Business, Engineering, and Education, too

The outlook for education careers is strong

The Wall Street Journal recently cited a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that projected job opportunities in 150 occupations that typically require a bachelor's degree. Not surprisingly, the report suggests that if you want to make money, get an engineering degree, with an average annual salary of $62,655, or computer science, drawing $59,221 a year. Education as a career came in at, alas, $40,668.

At the same time, the good – and perhaps somewhat surprising – news, is the strength of the education job market. For one thing, educators experience a very strong employment rate. As the article reports, “One year after earning their degrees, the unemployment rate for 2007-2008 graduates stood just above 5% for education majors and 6% for computer science and math majors. For business majors, the most popular field of study, the rate was about 9%.”

Also, out of 8.5 million projected job openings between 2010 and 2020 in the fields the report studied, 1.5 million of those are in education. While that's fewer than the projected openings in business, it's actually 36% more than the projected number in computer science.

If college students want a job, education is a good bet. So as you inspire them, also encourage the aspiring teachers you influence. Sure, there are other fields in which they can focus in order to make money. But, as you know, if they want to make a difference, they should be teachers. And the country will continue to need more and more of them.