WASHINGTON—As a general rule the most popular college majors are not the ones that earn the most money, said one author of Georgetown University’s report on the economic value of college majors released Tuesday.
But business is the exception.
Business, still holding strong as the most popular college major, accounts for 25 percent of all college degrees and ranks among the top three degrees in earnings returns.
It does, however, fit the mold in that it’s still an uneven playing field for women and minorities. These two groups earned less in 168 out of 171 majors documented in the report, including business.
Despite great gains in the classroom, women and non-white men with a business degree continue to lag far behind their white-male counterparts in earnings once out in the job market.
White men make up the majority of business degree holders: 76 percent are white and 55 percent are male. And of the 45 percent that are women, they are making $16,000 less per year than men with the same degree.
Only 23 percent of those holding a business degree in the year 2009 were African-America, Hispanic or Asian.
Women, who make up almost half of business degree earners, often don’t leverage their academic experience in the way that men do, said the director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, Anthony Carnevale.
“They just don’t get as much bang for their buck,” Carnevale said, “with their major as men do.”
One reason for this is their choice in concentration within the major. Human resources and personnel management is 64 percent female and among the lowest earning concentration in the business degree.