Top 10 college majors 2016 (degree, high school, career, engineers)

[neko_mimi]

Here's the most recent list of top majors from US news. No big surprises here.

Major - Median salary
Petroleum engineering - $136,000
Pharmaceutical sciences - $113,000
Metallurgical engineering - $98,000
Mineral engineering - $97,000
Chemical engineering - $96,000
Electrical engineering - $93,000
Aerospace engineering - $90,000
Mechanical engineering - $87,000
Computer engineering - $87,000
Geological engineering - $87,000

Seems like there's a bit of a trend there.

Another interesting bit of info from the report.

Engineering majors: The unemployment rate for engineers and scientists is relatively lower than other fields at 3.8 percent, compared with 8.1 percent for the general population

Top 10 College Majors That Earn the Highest Salaries

[Qwerty]

8.1%??????

The national unemployment rate is 5.0% 3.8% is a pretty high unemployment rate right now...

[Zeppelin0129]

The level of "frictional" unemployment that naturally exists in our economy (and has for decades) is around 5%. No industry (or economy) will ever have perfect employment.

[L210]

Originally Posted by Qwerty

8.1%??????

The national unemployment rate is 5.0% 3.8% is a pretty high unemployment rate right now...

I don't know where they got the 8.1% from. It makes me wonder if they're using really old data.

[ProffessorZoom]

Actually that isn't true. The real unemployment is actually around 23%.

[Zeppelin0129]

Originally Posted by ProffessorZoom

Actually that isn't true. The real unemployment is actually around 23%.

How did you come up with that number?

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by ProffessorZoom

Actually that isn't true. The real unemployment is actually around 23%.

I would imagine people who are "not" working is much much higher than that.

Originally Posted by Zeppelin0129

How did you come up with that number?

Actually the way unemployment is calculated is pretty skewed and not truly accurate. If someone is unemployed but they are not looking for a job they are not considered unemployed. The unemployment numbers are only taken from people in the work force. There are so many more people than that who are not working.

Here is an interesting article:
How does the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculate the unemployment rate published monthly? | Investopedia

[Katarina Witt]

^^^So, of those who are looking for jobs in engineering, the UE rate was 3.8% at the time of the article.

[lchoro]

Originally Posted by Qwerty

8.1%??????

The national unemployment rate is 5.0% 3.8% is a pretty high unemployment rate right now...

They're distorting the figures by counting only people who dropped out of high school, just as they're distorting the salary figures by using mid-career salaries of people who've attained management and ownership positions.

Earnings and unemployment rates by educational attainment

I would say the highest salaries and positions of people I've known have gone into sales.

[NJBest]

These are flawed results as they only look at salary.

An interesting tidbit from the article:

"A degree in computer engineering earns less now than before the Great Recession, experts say."