Most Underemployed College Majors According to Payscale

[sanantone]

I think they changed their methodology because there are major changes from last year's list. Economics, biology, and theater arts/drama are no longer in the top 10. One problem that I have is that they asked if the person felt underpaid. I don't think that's really relevant unless you're comparing salary to the cost of the degree to calculate return on investment. You either need a degree or you don't for the position you have. Feeling underpaid is subjective. They did also ask if the person is working part-time but wants to work full-time and if they're using their education/training.

However, I truly do believe that criminal justice majors have a high underemployment rate. People like to argue with me on this, but criminal justice majors tend to be underemployed because they take jobs that don't require a bachelor's degree: police, corrections, security, etc. Honestly, they don't qualify for much else. Even among the 100 largest cities and 100 largest police departments (these lists are different), only 4-16% of them require a bachelor's degree. Overall, only 1% of police departments require a bachelor's degree. These numbers don't include federal law enforcement agencies; but, even then, most of them do not require a criminal justice degree. In some cases, having a criminal justice degree can hurt your chances of getting a job in a federal law enforcement agency.

Last year, business management/administration was #1 and criminal justice and theater arts/drama were #2.

Most Underemployed Majors
Criminal Justice
Business Management & Administration
Health Care Administration
General Studies
Sociology
English Language & Literature
Graphic Design
Liberal Arts
Education
Psychology

Least Underemployed Majors
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Computer Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Law (??? this list is supposed to be undergraduate majors only)
Physics
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Geology
Mathematics

The college majors most and least likely to lead to underemployment - The Washington Post
PayScale | Most Underemployed Majors

[UptonSinclair]

Isn't a criminal justice degree supposed to be a focused sociology degree? It seems like there are folks who believe a criminal justice degree is a law enforcement degree but that would be like comparing electrical work with electrical engineering.

[sanantone]

Isn't a criminal justice degree supposed to be a focused sociology degree? It seems like there are folks who believe a criminal justice degree is a law enforcement degree but that would be like comparing electrical work with electrical engineering.

Yeah, criminal justice is supposed to be more applied than criminology, but they're pretty much indistinguishable now. Their roots are in sociology. There are political scientists, psychologists, and economists doing research in criminology, but the discipline is dominated by sociologists. Associate's degrees in law enforcement tend to be more vocational, but they aren't worth much unless they are combined with academy training and lead to licensure. Criminal justice students are often disappointed to learn that the major is mostly theoretical.