These Are the College Majors With the Lowest Unemployment Rates — and Philosophy Ranks Higher Than Computer Science An analysis of employment data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that some humanities majors rank higher than STEM majors in employment prospects.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released data on unemployment rates for recent college graduates (ages 22 to 27).
- The bank found that philosophy had an unemployment rate of 3.2%, less than computer science’s 6.1%, though computer science was more highly compensated.
Majoring in nutrition, art history, or philosophy could set you up for more employment success than majoring in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field like chemistry or physics.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York tracked the unemployment rate for recent college graduates ages 22 to 27 and found that it hit 5.5% in February, above the 2.6% rate experienced by college graduates of all ages.
The bank published data that month showing that some college majors were more affected by unemployment than others. According to the bank, the college majors with the lowest unemployment rates for the calendar year 2023 were nutrition sciences, construction services, and animal/plant sciences. Each of these majors had unemployment rates of 1% or lower among college graduates ages 22 to 27.
Art history had an unemployment rate of 3% and philosophy of 3.2%, each below the national average nationwide unemployment rate of 4.2% in April.
Related: Goldman Sachs CIO Says Coders Should Take Philosophy Classes — Here's Why
Meanwhile, college majors in computer science, chemistry, and physics had much higher unemployment rates of 6% or higher post-graduation. Computer science and computer engineering students had unemployment rates of 6.1% and 7.5%, respectively.
Still, those fields were among the most highly compensated. Both computer engineering and computer science had median early-career annual earnings of $80,000, one of the highest out of any discipline. In comparison, art history majors earned $45,000 per year while philosophy majors made $48,000 and nutrition majors $75,000. All three fields had higher salaries than the median personal income in the U.S. in 2023, which was $42,220.
Over 32% of computer science college graduates went on to obtain master's degrees or higher, compared to 48% of art history and nutrition students, and 58% of philosophy majors.
Most students who majored in chemistry or physics also obtained graduate degrees. Nearly 68% of physics and 66% of chemistry students in college decided to pursue and receive higher degrees. Physics graduates were among the most highly compensated, with median annual earnings of $70,000. Chemistry lagged behind with a median yearly pay of $55,000.
Companies are increasing their recruitment of humanities majors to obtain diverse perspectives. Last year, BlackRock's chief operating officer, Robert Goldstein, spoke at a conference about the investment company's need for humanities majors, even though the firm focuses on finance and technology.
"We have more and more conviction that we need people who majored in history or English, in things that have nothing to do with finance or technology," Goldstein said. "It's that diversity of thinking and diversity of people and diversity of looking at different ways to solve problems, that really fuels innovation."
According to Federal Reserve Bank of New York data, history majors and English majors each made around $45,000 in median annual earnings, with an unemployment rate of around 4.6%.
Goldman Sachs' Chief Information Officer, Marco Argenti, also noted last year that a standard engineering degree might not suffice anymore, particularly as AI learns to write high-quality code. Argenti suggested that it may be necessary to pair a computer science degree with an additional degree in philosophy.
In April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that the company's engineers are using AI to write 20% to 30% of code, while Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on an earnings call that Google was using AI to write "well over 30%" of new code.
