College and economic security

The Georgetown Public Policy Institute for has released a report detailing how much better off college graduates fared in the economic downturn. Key points:

• unemployment rate for 4 year college graduates never exceeded 6.3% during the recession, compared with a peak unemployment rate of 13.4% in February 2010.
• unemployment rate for new high school graduates peaked at 30% in January 2010, and remained at 24% in May of 2012.
• during the recession (Dec. 2007-Jan 2010) there was modest job growth (187,000) for those with a bachelor's degree or better.
• During the recovery (January 2010-Feb. 2012) job losses for high school graduates or less education continued to decline (230,000) while job growth for those with some college (2,012,000) and Bachelor's degree or better (3,374,000) improved dramatically.
• Nearly 4 out of every 5 jobs lost in the recession were held by workers with a high school diploma or less.

There is a wealth of additional information.

What's a degree worth?

The PayScale College Salary report is out, and not surprisingly, the higher median starting salaries and mid-career median salaries are for graduates with degrees in engineering and the sciences. Hospitality and Tourism, Music, Education and Elementary Education are in the bottom 10. Human Resources faired a bit better coming in at 15th from the bottom in starting median, below, um, Art History my undergraduate major.