Thousands of new college grads will enter the workforce this year, but with unemployment at 8.2% and underemployment near 18%, many will put off the taxing job search process and opt out of the weak job market to pursue graduate degrees.
With this in mind, Forbes set out to determine which master’s degrees would provide the best long-term opportunities, based on salary and employment outlook. To find the mid-career median pay for 35 popular degrees, we turned to Payscale.com, which lets users compare their salaries with those of other people in similar jobs by culling real-time salary data from its 35 million profiles. We then looked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment projection data to see how fast employment was expected to increase between 2010 and 2020 in popular jobs held by people with each degree. Finally we averaged each degree’s pay rank and estimated growth rank to find the best and worst master’s degrees for jobs.
In Pictures: The Best And Worst Master’s Degrees For Jobs
As it turns out, although there are too few doctors in the U.S. and too few seats in medical schools, those shortages are good for one segment of the population: people who get degrees as physician assistants.
Physician assistants are medical professionals who provide diagnostic and preventative health care services under the supervision of doctors—and they’re in high demand.
“Both an aging population and health care reform are contributing to a higher demand for health care services,” says Katie Bardaro, Payscale’s lead economist. “As fully capable medical professionals, physician assistants are able to alleviate the pressure on doctors by performing important and necessary health care tasks to this increasing pool of patients.”
They don’t earn as much as doctors, but their mid-career median pay is a whopping $97,000. Another advantage of a physician assistant degree: Employment opportunities are expected to grow 30% by 2020 (from the 2010 employment numbers), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Would-be physician assistants need to take certain science classes to prep for a master’s program, but they can earn undergraduate degrees in almost any field. The growing demand for them and the promise of fat paychecks put physician assistant degrees at the top of the heap in Forbes’ third-annual look at the best master’s degrees for jobs.
By our count, computer science follows close behind as the No. 2 best advanced degree for jobs.
Mid-career median pay for these grads is $109,000, sixth best out of the 35 degrees in our survey. Employment opportunities for computer science degree-holders are expected to expand about 22% between 2010 and 2020.
“In a technology driven world, the need for those who not only understand, but can improve upon technology is high,” Bardaro says. “As businesses of all types depend upon technology to get things done, computer science degree-holders will remain in high demand.”
Electrical engineering, physics and economics degrees also make the top 10, all with an average mid-career salary of more than $110,000 a year.
A master’s in business administration (M.B.A) can also earn you six figures mid-career—but because of the poor growth outlook for common jobs held by these degree-holders, it doesn’t make the top 10 list.
Not all master’s degree holders enjoy anywhere near such optimistic job prospects or extraordinary pay. Getting a master’s in library and information science, English, music, or education can be extremely gratifying but pricy. Median mid-career median pay for all those degrees is under $63,000, and employment for them isn’t expected to grow significantly over the next few years.
Library and information science degree-holders bring in $57,600 mid-career, on average. Common jobs for them are school librarian, library director and reference librarian, and there are expected to be just 8.5% more of them by 2020. The low pay rank and estimated growth rank make library and information science the worst master’s degree for jobs right now.
Biology, chemistry and history degrees are also toward the bottom of the list—but that doesn’t mean they’re useless. If you’re passionate about these fields, the lower pay and slimmer job prospects shouldn’t deter you from pursuing a master’s. However, it’s important that you ask yourself a few questions before you make that decision.
Ask, “Is the program required to pursue a given career?” “What do the job opportunities look like?” and “Will the cost of the education outweigh the potential income?” If the answer to the last one is yes, then a master’s program is not the way to go, Bardaro says.
Another thing to keep in mind: Master’s degree-holders don’t necessarily earn more than other people in similar jobs—so don’t base your decision to pursue one on the idea that you’ll bring in bigger paychecks.
“People may pursue a master’s degree in the hopes of a higher salary, but it doesn’t always work out,” she says. “Two absolute benefits of graduate education are increased knowledge in a field and the ability to set oneself apart from those with only a bachelor’s degree. However, these two things together might not be enough for a given person.”
These may be the best and worst master’s degrees in terms of pay and employment opportunities, but it’s also important to think about work-life balance and employee satisfaction for the common jobs associated with these degrees. “You need to consider overall happiness,” Bardaro says. “If obtaining a master’s degree causes an imbalance due to time devoted to education and potentially more stress at work, then one will need to decide if these costs are worth it. Evaluating the benefits of a master’s degree is not just about the potential for higher pay, but also about the opportunities it will bring, the skills and knowledge it can provide, and overall satisfaction.”
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