The 11 Majors With The Highest Unemployment Rates

Many people pick their college major based on what they are interested in. This is all well and good, but there are facts to be had, and we must face them. Some majors do better than others in the workforce.

According to Census data obtained by the Wall Street Journal, clinical psychology is the most unemployable major with a 19.5% unemployment rate. It's hard out there for aspiring Sigmund Freuds.

Check out the below slideshow of the most unemployable majors. Then tell us, are you happy with your choice of major? Is yours on the list? Share your opinion in the comments section.

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Comments

[Ellen Elena OConnell]

01:45 PM on 01/02/2012

I have a BS in Psychology and I can tell you the degree is worth almost nothing. I took some courses in grad school and a lot of people I knew with graduate degrees and no licensure were having a hard time finding jobs. So unless you plan on getting your LPC or a doctorate in Psy. then don't even bother pursuing this career. I know that if I knew then what I know now about this field, I would not have pursued it. If you want to be able to support yourself, choosing a career is vital! Since taking a semester off of grad school and after much thinking and praying; I am switching to Nursing. This is a field which one of the lowest unemployment rates and a great prospect. And if I do an accelerated program, I can have a MSN in the same amount of time it would have taken me to get a masters!

[vtrob77]

03:28 AM on 12/30/2011

Any degree is employable if you're actually educated with critical thinking and analysis skills. The degree = job logic is fail. Education = job; critical thinking = job; analytical skill = job; and ability to communicate clearly = job. if an employer

If you want to be trained for a job, go to a community college or a technical school (medical billing, bookkeeping, welding, nursing (RN), among others), which are all valuable and necessary occupations in society where one can make a decent living. Universities exist to educate and expand the body of knowledge, not just train people for jobs.

If Universities stop educating people and focus merely on job training, then it's a sad time for civilization.

[rewith85man]

11:52 PM on 12/27/2011

Those majors are not as bad as I thought.

But, fortunately I am pursuing a bachelor's degree in web/graphic design. That field is popular and promising of a good salary.

[CentralNY]

10:54 AM on 12/27/2011

This is shockingly simplistic and almost meaningless... Many of the majors listed require graduate degrees to work in those fields...

[Jahsmah]

06:26 PM on 12/22/2011

Um, I think all of the majors listed here are ones in which you need a graduate degree in order to be considered for a proper job. #fail Huffpo

[Meils]

06:22 PM on 01/04/2012

as well as a difficult & lengthy licensure process to actually use the title "Architect," graduation with an MArch or BArch which are equivalent professional degrees required for licensure does not allow one to use the term or to legally practice, that is granted by the state regulatory boards and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards-

[Camille Michelle]

02:41 PM on 12/22/2011

I have no pity for those who go off to college and major in silly things, and then cry about not getting a job. You can major in what you love all you want, but if it's a worthless area, your degree will be worthless. Major in things that are actually employable. Who cares if you don't like Business or Engineering or Econ--these majors actually mean something. You can whine for 4 years about the coursework, but you wont be whining when you actually get a job.

And yes, I am 100% advocating in majoring in subjects you don't like PURELY for the payoff in the end. It's a foolproof strategy.

[Sam Beldon]

09:19 PM on 12/23/2011

fool proof... pardon my usage of internet slang, but LMAO!... I am set to graduate this spring, and I can tell you that even though those majors do hold the least risk of unemployment, it still isn't "fool proof"... I have plenty of friends who are currently still working part time jobs just to afford living expenses... There is no such thing as equal opportunity, or fairness in the job market. Careers that used to be stable are now on foundations made of sand... Its an overly generalized statement to say that specific majors equate to fool proof plans... the whole education system is a failure... Which I blame Rockefeller and Ford for wanting not individuals who can think, but cogs in their machines...

[CentralNY]

10:56 AM on 12/27/2011

Business does not mean anything as a major unless you have big names recruiting at your school...

[Gaius Gracchus]

02:56 AM on 12/17/2011

As soon as I read this I knew it was bogus. Way to go, Huffington Post, reprinting bad/mislea­ding data.
Check out the APA rebuttal:
http://www­.apa.org/n­ews/press/­response/e­mployment-­data.aspx

It says exactly what I thought when I read the article: There are almost no clinical psychology UNDERGRADU­ATE majors anywhere. Undergrads get their degrees in psychology and specialize only after going to graduate school. The list of majors in this report is for undergradu­ates, NOT graduate degree holders. Only .76 percent of the 1.5 million psych majors were clinical psychology because it just doesn't exist in most schools. OBVIOUSLY someone holding just a BA/BS in clinical psych is not going to be as employable as a PhD.

A more meaningful number would be the unemployme­nt rate of Clinical Psych PhD's (an actual terminal degree) which, in 2009, was only 3.8 percent.

[emoryalumna11]

04:50 PM on 12/16/2011

I was REALLY surprised to see Military Technologies and Computer Admin/Security. I thought those were foolproof.

[Claire Ryland]

03:43 PM on 12/13/2011

Library science is a graduate degree.

[Ashley Charron]

08:34 PM on 12/10/2011

Are these undergrad majors? It's common knowledge that you need a graduate/professional degree to get a decent job nowadays. A Bachelor's degree is equivalent to a HS diploma nowadays. However, on the flip side, one of my friends in college got a BA in Psych and she had no problems finding jobs since graduation. I guess it all depends on statistics. Really surprised me that Philosophy wasn't on the list, though.

[Camille Michelle]

02:36 PM on 12/22/2011

A bachelors degree is not the equivalent of a H.S. dipolma. What kind of backwards, idiotic thinking is that? College grads only have 5% unemployment. Those with highschool diplomas only or not diplomas at all face unemployment of up to 15%. So yes, a bachelors degree really DOES mean something. I say this as a college junior, sick of hearing older people say my Marketing degree will be worth squat in this economy. Think again.

(But of course we all know income goes up the more education you have.)

[Ashley Charron]

10:54 PM on 12/22/2011

It's not backwards, idiotic thinking when all the college grads I know STILL haven't found jobs, and they graduated over a year ago. And they didn't major in obscure subjects; they've got science and business degrees. Also, a lot of places want a Bachelor's just for secretaries. So, maybe the statistics don't show it, but really, yes...it's like a HS diploma in the fact that it's become the new baseline for employment in today's economy. When you've graduated and scored a job right away, THEN you can talk.

[SNAAPER SNAP]

09:24 PM on 12/04/2011

There are so many people who would have been much better off in life if they learned a trade and got a journeyman license instead of indebting themselves for a worthless degree.

[DSevere]

09:09 PM on 12/27/2011

That's really true. There has been a decline of people trained in the skilled trades in recent years, and that's an area where there are lots of available jobs. (As someone whose live/work space is currently being renovated, I can attest to the fact that our plumber and electrician are making a LOT of money and are overwhelmingly busy, working on multiple projects simultaneously...)

[John Edward Byrd]

01:36 PM on 12/01/2011

Ya! Philosophy wasn't on the list! Also no music(my minor)!

[Alicia Wiprovnick]

02:32 PM on 11/29/2011

Are these rates just for undergraduate majors? You really can't get a good job in clinical psych without an advanced degree. Luckily I am employed, but this is just a temporary job before I apply for graduate programs. I plan on getting my PhD in clinical psychology, is there a high unemployment rate for PhDs?

[vegimorph]

02:01 AM on 11/29/2011

I'm double majoring in English and Cinema. Planning to apply for a Masters in Creative Writing. As for the chances of getting a job afterwards, I'm not sure. I have connections and everything but who knows. That stinks that Psychology and U.S. History have some of the highest unemployment levels. I took courses for both in High School and they were pretty awesome. Hopefully those kinds of areas will have more openings soon

[S Omoruyi]

01:33 PM on 12/07/2011

i think u should take courses in cinema instead of majoring in it

[Goldie Treasure]

04:40 PM on 11/28/2011

OUCH! I have always dreamed of being a Psychologist but I decided it was just too much school for someone just starting school at 23 and decided to major in something else, but library science I am not surprised I have a good friend who got her master's in that and is not a babysitter at almost 30.