The Best And Worst Master's Degrees For Jobs

Thousands of new college grads will enter the workforce this year, but with unemployment at 9.1% and underemployment near 19%, many will put off the taxing job search process and opt out of the weak job market to pursue graduate degrees.

With this in mind, Forbes set out to determine which master’s degrees would provide the best long-term opportunities, based on salary and employment outlook. To find the mid-career median pay for 35 popular degrees, we turned to Payscale.com, which lets users compare their salaries with those of other people in similar jobs by culling real-time salary data from its 16.5 million profiles. We then looked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment projection data to see how fast employment was expected to increase between 2008 and 2018 in popular jobs held by people with each degree. Finally we averaged each degree’s pay rank and estimated growth rank to find the best and worst master’s degrees for jobs.

As it turns out, although there are too few doctors in the U.S. and too few seats in medical schools, those shortages are good for one segment of the population: people who get degrees as physician assistants.

Physician assistants are medical professionals who provide diagnostic and preventative health care services under the supervision of doctors—and they’re in high demand.
The Forbes E-book: Find And Keep Your Dream Job
The Definitive Careers Guide From Forbes encompasses every aspect of the job hunt from interview to promotion. Written by some of Forbes’ best careers and leadership writers, it is available now for download.

“They are a good substitute for doctors in primary care,” says Al Lee, Payscale’s director of quantitative analysis. “There is a greater demand for medical professionals as the health care industry continues to grow strongly. And physician assistants are knowledgeable and capable, yet they’re cheaper than doctors.”

They don’t earn as much as doctors, but their mid-career median pay exceeds $100,000. Another advantage of a physician’s assistant degree: Employment opportunities are expected to grow 39% by 2018 (from the 2008 employment numbers), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Would-be physician assistants need to take certain science classes to prep for a master’s program, but they can earn undergraduate degrees in almost any field. The growing demand for them and the promise of fat paychecks put physician assistant degrees at the top of the heap in Forbes‘ second-annual look at the best master’s degrees.

By our count, computer science ties physician assistant studies for the No. 1 advanced degree.

Mid-career median pay for these grads is $109,000, sixth best out of the 35 degrees in our survey. Employment opportunities for computer science degree-holders are expected to expand 27% between 2008 and 2018.

“We’re in the midst of the technology wave, and computer scientists are so highly valued,” says Lee. “Even though so many products and programs no longer require tech professionals’ services or skills, we still need people who really understand computers.” As long as people and businesses use technology, computer science degree-holders will be in demand, he adds.

Not all master’s degree holders enjoy anywhere near such optimistic job prospects or extraordinary pay. Getting a master’s in music, education or social work can be gratifying but pricy. Median mid-career median pay for all those degrees is under $60,000, and employment for them isn’t expected to grow significantly over the next few years.

Music degree-holders bring in $57,600 mid-career, on average. Common jobs for them include music teacher and music director, and there are expected to be just 11% more of them by 2018. “If you love music, then you may be able to have a career and live a good lifestyle with a master’s in music,” says Lee. “But make sure you’re getting a master’s degree for the right reasons.”

Original Source Article....