The Hot Major for Undergrads Seeking High Pay Is……

ECONOMICS

Jessica Vassellaro, of the Wall Street Journal Online writes, “according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, economics majors in their first job earn an average of nearly $43,000 a year — not as much as for computer-science majors and engineering majors, who can earn in excess of $50,000 a year. But those computer and engineering jobs look increasingly threatened by competition from inexpensive, highly skilled workers in places like India and China.”

“Economics and business majors ranked among the five most-desirable majors in a 2004 survey of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, along with accounting, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. It wasn’t just banks and insurance companies that expressed interest in economics majors — companies in industries such as utilities and retailing did so, too.”

“Indeed, the rising popularity of the economics major appears to be a global phenomenon. A recent McKinsey Global Institute study found that the share of degrees in economics and business awarded in Poland from 1996 to 2002 more than doubled, to 36% from 16%; in Russia, the share jumped to 31% from 18%.”

“Pooja Jotwani, a recent graduate of Georgetown University in Washington D.C., says she is certain her economics degree helped her land a job in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s sales and trading division, where she will earn $55,000, not including bonus.”

The Hot Major for Undergrads Seeking High Pay Is Economics. [The Wall Street Journal Online - Jessica Vascellaro]

________________________________________________________________________
Career Hacker * www.careerhacker.com * By Bill Inman * www.billinman.com