Four College Majors Most Likely to Leave Students Unemployed

A college education is seen by many as a pathway to career success and a higher salary, but certain majors may actually make you more likely to be unemployed. Experts spoke with Newsweek about why that is.
A new report from education research group Degreechoices found criminal justice graduates had the highest levels of under-employment at 71.5 percent, while performing arts, art history, hospitality and liberal arts majors trailed shortly after.
The unemployment rates for all the majors were relatively high as well. While criminal justice saw an unemployment rate of 2.8 percent, the other degrees ranged between 4 and 8 percent.
More From Newsweek Vault: Most Affordable Online Colleges
The study was based on 2022 data from the New York Fed on the share of graduates working in jobs that do not require a college degree after graduating college with a certain major.
Under-employability was also in part defined by the median wage for each college degree for both early and mid-career graduates.
The list of the top five most underemployed majors was as follows: criminal justice, performing arts, art history, leisure and hospitality and liberal arts.
More From Newsweek Vault: Student Loan Forgiveness Update: How I’m Prepping for Repayment as a Gen Z Borrower
While the median wage for a criminal justice degree was $41,000 for those in their early career, performing arts majors saw even lower median wages of $38,000.
Those in the hospitality industry saw an underemployment rate of 57.6 percent, making a median wage of $39,700 in their early career, while liberal arts majors made just $38,000 and saw an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent.
“This research highlights the importance of understanding the career prospects associated with different college degrees,” a spokesperson for Degreechoices said in a statement. “With Criminal Justice graduates experiencing the highest levels of underemployment at 71.5 percent, it is crucial for students to be informed about potential job market challenges they may face upon graduation.”
More From Newsweek Vault: Is College Worth It? Graduates Earn More But Could Carry Significant Debt
Despite the high underemployment rates for some of these majors, HR consultant Bryan Driscoll said students continue to be pushed into certain career fields that fail to live up to their price tags.
“Criminal justice, for example, is high on the list because it’s sold as a path to law enforcement or legal careers,” Driscoll told Newsweek. “But the reality is that many of these jobs pay poorly and offer little room for advancement. When you’re trained for a narrow industry, you’re stuck if the job market shifts or those fields become oversaturated, as they often do.”
Driscoll urged students to question what they’re being sold before deciding on a major.
“College isn’t a path to a job like it used to be,” Driscoll said. “And when that path now leads to massive debt and limited opportunities, then maybe it’s the system that needs fixing.”
Currently, Americans hold roughly $1.75 trillion in student loan debt, but President Joe Biden has approved various forms of loan forgiveness.
“Most of the majors among the top 10 have struggled for years with both unemployment and underemployment,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.
“Some jobs, like those in the performing and fine arts, aren’t as easy to obtain and can ultimately lead the graduate with that degree to rely on other endeavors to supplement their income”
For criminal justice majors specifically, jobs are not necessarily hard to obtain, but there are other issues driving the under-employability, Beene said.
“Many facilities are desperately promoting to attain new talent. It has more to do with the stress of those roles, mixed with long hours and income that while decent seems inadequate given the numerous responsibilities required,” Beene said.
Are you studying one of these majors? If you’d like to share your story, please get in touch with [email protected].