- Even if you have a high-paying job, it doesn’t mean you have guaranteed job stability.
- According to a recent study by Bankrate, many high-paying college majors also come with above-average unemployment rates.
- The college major with the highest unemployment rate was petroleum engineering, with 7.5% of graduates unemployed.
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Having a high-paying job doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have job stability, and vice versa.
Some college majors that lead to high-paying jobs also come with above-average unemployment rates – and that includes majors in fields like engineering, cognitive science, and the arts.
Financial education company Bankrate looked at unemployment rates for college majors, based on the most recent available data from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey. Using weighted data, Bankrate determined unemployment rates and incomes for graduates across 162 majors that employed at least 15,000 people.
The median income for degree holders in the study was $55,000, and the average unemployment rate was 2.8%. Bankrate supplied Business Insider directly with the number of graduates employed in each major on the list.
The major with the highest unemployment rate was petroleum engineering, with 7.5% of graduates unemployed - despite graduates with that major having a median income of $87,600.
Here are the 20 college majors with the highest unemployment rates.
20. International Relations
Number employed: 148,500
Median income: $60,000
Unemployment rate: 3.9%
19. Visual and Performing Arts
Number employed: 78,200
Median income: $32,000
Unemployment rate: 4.1%
18. Commercial Art and Graphic Design
Number employed: 575,800
Median income: $41,800
Unemployment rate: 4.1%
17. Other Foreign Languages
Number employed: 78,600
Median income: $45,000
Unemployment rate: 4.2%
16. Industrial Production Technologies
Number employed: 78,100
Median income: $71,000
Unemployment rate: 4.2%
15. Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Number employed: 25,300
Median income: $50,000
Unemployment rate: 4.3%
14. Composition and Rhetoric
Number employed: 89,600
Median income: $37,800
Unemployment rate: 4.4%
13. Mathematics and Computer Science
Number employed: 16,900
Median income: $99,000
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
12. United States History
Number employed: 23,200
Median income: $55,000
Unemployment rate: 4.6%
11. Fine Arts
Number employed: 594,300
Median income: $37,000
Unemployment rate: 4.8%
10. Communication Technologies
Number employed: 93,600
Median income: $40,000
Unemployment rate: 4.9%
9. Actuarial Science
Number employed: 17,600
Median income: $80,000
Unemployment rate: 5.1%
8. Public Policy
Number employed: 43,000
Median income: $60,000
Unemployment rate: 5.1%
7. Drama and Theater Arts
Number employed: 244,200
Median income: $35,500
Unemployment rate: 5.2%
6. Miscellaneous Fine Arts
Number employed: 22,600
Median income: $38,000
Unemployment rate: 5.7%
5. Mass Media
Number employed: 302,200
Median income: $40,000
Unemployment rate: 6.0%
4. Film Video and Photographic Arts
Number employed: 185,400
Median income: $37,000
Unemployment rate: 6.5%
3. Materials Engineering and Materials Science
Number employed: 35,100
Median income: $78,800
Unemployment rate: 6.6%
2. Cognitive Science and Biopsychology
Number employed: 17,400
Median income: $56,000
Unemployment rate: 6.7%
1. Petroleum Engineering
Number employed: 25,500
Median income: $87,600
Unemployment rate: 7.5%