Recent college grads are finding work outside of their degrees

There’s a saying that a college degree is “just a piece of paper” – and for many Americans, that statement hits close to home.

About half of recent US college graduates work in jobs where their degrees aren’t needed, according to a new study tracking the career paths of 10+ million graduates who entered the job market over the past decade.

The research, from the Strada Education Foundation and Burning Glass Institute, found 52% of four-year college graduates were in non-college-level jobs one year after graduation, and 45% were similarly underemployed a decade later.

The college roadmap to El Dorado

Per the data, what a person studies in college is the No. 1 factor in determining their odds of getting on a college-level career track – more so than race, gender, or specific choice of university.

• Five years after graduating college, ~75% of US students who majored in a health profession, engineering, or a math-intensive business program (finance, accounting) were working at jobs where their degree is needed.
• On the flip side, ~40% of students who majored in public safety/security, humanities and cultural studies, or a non-math-intensive business program (management, marketing, HR) were using their degree at their job.

Internships were also crucial to landing a college-level career track. Across all degree programs, the underemployment rate for graduates without at least one internship was consistently 15%-20% higher than graduates with an internship during college.

💥 The impact: Americans in college-level jobs earn nearly 90% more in their 20s, on average, than people with a high-school diploma as their highest level of education, per US Census Bureau data. By comparison, underemployed college graduates earn an average of 25% more than high-school graduates who didn’t complete college.

📊 Flash poll: To all our readers in the workforce who are college graduates – do you work in a job where your degree is needed?

• Yes
• No