Study: Nursing Grads Have Lowest Unemployment Rate

New research says nursing grads have the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S compared with other recent graduates.

That’s why we called it one of the best jobs in America last year. Check out the video below to find out what other careers we suggested, and we’ll talk more about the new research on the other side.

The new report, from the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, explores the employment rates and earnings for recent grads based on their majors. Here’s some of what it found:

• Despite improvements in the housing market, unemployment for recent architecture grads is 12.8 percent.
• Unemployment is usually higher among nontechnical majors, including the arts (9.8 percent) and law and public policy (9.2 percent), than technical majors.
• Making tech beats using tech: Grads who majored in information systems, which is concentrated in clerical functions, have the highest unemployment rate at 14.7 percent. Meanwhile, grads in computer science have 8.7 percent unemployment, those in engineering have 7 percent, and those in math have 5.9 percent.
• Psychology and social work grads have relatively low rates (8.8 percent) because nearly half work in the booming health care or education sectors. In fact, grads who majored in health and the sciences have a 4.8 percent unemployment rate, and those who majored in education have a 5 percent rate.
• Grads with work experience have a better shot at getting a job (4.8 percent unemployment) than those without (7.9 percent).
• In high-demand fields, a graduate degree holder can earn nearly double what someone with a bachelor’s can. A bachelor’s in engineering is worth about $51,000 to $57,000 a year, while a graduate degree is worth $95,000 to $109,000.
• “With the exception of arts and education, where pay is traditionally low, workers with graduate degrees average between $60,000 and $100,000 per year,” the study says.

The report uses “recent grads” somewhat loosely, because its Census Bureau data is from 2010 and 2011. Earnings are also in 2010 dollars.