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Best college degree to get based on statistics?

Job listings in New York, NY on Careerbuilder.com. I say Nursing wins whats your vote? Accountant unemployment rate: 4% Jobs listed: 2,530 average pay: $45,000 Registered Nurse Jobs listed: 1,203 unemployment rate: 1% Average pay: $66,530 programmer unemployment rate: 4% Jobs listed: 359 Average Pay: $54,074 Electrical Engineer unemployment rate 5.4% Jobs listed: 210 Average Pay $60,574 Social Worker unemployment rate 2.3% Jobs listed: 1,074 Average pay: $46,612 Graphic Design Unemployment rate: 3.7% Jobs listed: 175 Average pay: $40,000 Teacher unemployment rate 3% Jobs listed: 337 Average pay: $43,368

Public Comments

1. In my opinion the best college degree you can get, is something that you will enjoy. It shouldn't be based on how much you make. Why would you want to work a job that makes you unhappy? Then make your decision.
2. Remember this, it is all about DEMAND and SUPPLY. Nursing is in shortage right now. That's why they are getting good paid, but it won't be long. Did you know hospital accept every new nurses without experiences that applied to their hospital in 5 years ago ? But now, they all require you to have at least 1 year of experience in nursing to be considered ! Yes, nursing is still a excellent career, but the hype will soon burst. Accountant only get paid well when they have their CPA. Read this : http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/blogs/mba_admissions/archives/2010/10/accounting_and_business_majors_score_jobs.html Registered Nurse as explained above programmer : NY is not a land for programmer. CA, especially, Northern California, if you want to earn big bucks and job opportunity ! Electrical Engineer : Again, it is NY. Social Worker : If you choose this career for money, then you pick the wrong career. Graphic Design : This is not a marketable degree and you earning is based solely on consumers ! Teacher is more about a secure job, see the movie Waiting for "Superman" to know why it is secure, since it takes a lot of steps to fire a teacher to the point that people just give up on firing them.
3. Engineering - Any kind - As long as you are willing to relocate. Here is a list of average starting & mid-career salaries for most 4 year majors. Note these stats only apply to people who actually got a job in that field. Many graduates in the lower half of the list never get a job in their field & are not counted. The higher they pay, the harder the major & generally the more math needed. Just be aware that high pay does not mean high demand. http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/08/pf/college/best_paying_college_majors/index.htm?iid=MPM Highest Starting Salaries of 2011: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/pf/jobs/1010/gallery.best_jobs_highest_paid.moneymag/index.html?iid=EL Most in demand degrees: http://www.acinet.org/acinet/oview2.asp?next=oview2&Level=BAplus&optstatus=101000000&jobfam=&id=1&nodeid=4&soccode=&stfips=00&ShowAll=no Hot Jobs 2011 http://career-advice.monster.ca/job-hunt-strategy/company-industry-research/great-careers-for-the-new-year/article.aspx?WT.mc_n=Ycanada_YToday The job prospects for most occupations in the USA. http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2040964,00.html But on the bright side, if you have a genuine interest in the field you are pursuing & are willing to throw yourself in it & do anything for it, you will fare better than someone doing something because they can’t think of anything better to do. Those with a real passion for something can move mountains to become successful, but if you don’t have that fire in you, you are at a disadvantage
4. You're missing a variable. It's an important variable too. How many qualified applicants are applying for each of those open positions. The competition level for the jobs in question will be really important in determining the potential for job security. It's also missing the variable of length of training. At least one of those can be had with a 2-year degree (nursing) and another requires a master's (social work). Weighing the two with that consideration in mind, nursing comes out WAY ahead of social work. You'll also want to consider whether the profession is in a state of advance or decline. In many school districts nationwide, falling enrollment is resulting in falling teacher count. In some subjects the count has fallen to zero in certain schools. You'd not want to be a certified teacher in one of those subjects in that school. A few of these fields are in a state of advancing right now - nursing for example. "Because the boomer population is getting older..." which won't be a problem until the boomers are dead and equal the population count of GenX (which is MUCH smaller) - then what do we do with all of those nurses? Then, you're looking at median earnings and not the range or (important for a newbie) the starting wage. In this one, nursing doesn't come out so hot because the range isn't very wide for nurses. It's really good for starting pay though. Unless you advance to AP nurse (which is about to require a doctorate, may as well become an MD), the salary remains fairly constant over a career and may not even inflation adjust. Compare that to teachers though who get a level increase as government employees and their range is very wide. While the median is $43K in your analysis - the range is as low as $24K and as high as $120K The same range data will likely be found for your accountant entry and definitely for computer programmers. Additionally, 8% of accountants are self-employed and their earnings could be nothing or millions. In terms of maximum return for time and energy invested with the least risk of joblessness - nursing is probably the best bet, especially if only invested in an associates degree. In terms of maximum potential for return on the time and energy invested over the long haul - it's probably engineering. There's a fault in the idea that "we'll always need nurses and teachers" that makes it not a sure bet. That is, everyone and his pet monkey is trying to become one. That brings back the first point, there's a very high available workforce in those fields and that's bound to at least hold wages steady if not force them down over time. One advantage teaching has over the others: when the economy crashed, a lot of people left business/industry and flooding the teacher market. As the economy improves, those teachers will "seek greener pastures" and return to business and industry thereby opening many jobs. Further, the median age of public school teachers is pretty high - they're starting to retire in large numbers and become patients of those nurses. On the other hand, we'll always need accountants and engineers too but most people (Average Joe) can't do the math required for the job or to even get the degree. Those two are the better long-run prospects in terms of security and increasing wages over time. That you're interested in this study might suggest you want to consider a career in HR and Computational Economics though. Fascinating stuff and the top level pays way more than any of the jobs you have listed here. However, there's no "job" security and it's really tough to get in.
5. Based on those stats, I agree with you. However, nurses work midnight to 8 am shifts, so physical and what some consider menial labor, and are looked down upon by doctors. Sure that's what you want?