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Digest of Education Statistics
2009 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 393. Percentage of bachelor's degree recipients employed full time 1 year after graduation and average annual salary, by field of study: Selected years, 1976 through 2001
Employment status and average salary of degree recipients Total Engineering Business and management Health professions Education1,2 Public affairs and social services Biological sciences Mathematics and other sciences3 Psychology Social sciences History Humanities
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Percent employed full time                                                
1974-75 recipients in May 1976 67 (—) 79 (—) 84 (—) 75 (—) 66 (—) (†) 56 (—) 50 (—) 61 (—) 59 (—) (4) (†) 56 (—)
1979-80 recipients in May 1981 71 (—) 84 (—) 83 (—) 77 (—) 67 (—) 77 (—) 45 (—) 58 (—) 56 (—) 61 (—) (4) (†) 55 (—)
1989-90 recipients in June 1991 74 (—) 84 (—) 83 (—) 86 (—) 67 (—) 66 (—) 50 (—) 72 (—) 59 (—) 68 (—) (4) (†) 59 (—)
1999-2000 recipients in July 2001 84 (0.6) 87 (2.3) 93 (1.2) 84 (1.7) 81 (6.9) 87 (2.8) 66 (3.9) 89 (2.3) 80 (3.2) 76 (2.8) (4) (†) 72 (3.5)
                                               
Percent employed full time in job closely                                                
related to field of study                                                
1974-75 recipients in May 1976 35 (—) 57 (—) 49 (—) 71 (—) 22 (—) (†) 26 (—) 19 (—) 22 (—) 12 (—) (4) (†) 12 (—)
1979-80 recipients in May 1981 38 (—) 55 (—) 44 (—) 66 (—) 29 (—) 46 (—) 18 (—) 29 (—) 17 (—) 10 (—) (4) (†) 14 (—)
1989-90 recipients in June 1991 39 (—) 50 (—) 42 (—) 83 (—) 39 (—) 49 (—) 26 (—) 48 (—) 22 (—) 16 (—) (4) (†) 11 (—)
1999-2000 recipients in July 2001 52 (0.8) 71 (3.3) 62 (2.3) 81 (2.3) 30 (9.2) 58 (4.6) 47 (5.0) 66 (3.4) 37 (4.5) 25 (3.1) (4) (†) 41 (3.9)
                                               
Average salary, in current dollars                                                
1974-75 recipients in February 19765 $7,600 (—) $12,200 (—) $10,200 (—) $8,600 (—) $6,300 (—) (†) $6,500 (—) $7,000 (—) (†) $6,700 (—) (4) (†) $5,800 (—)
1979-80 recipients in May 19815 15,200 (—) 22,400 (—) 16,300 (—) 17,300 (—) 11,500 (—) $13,700 (—) 14,500 (—) 16,300 (—) $12,500 (—) 14,000 (—) (4) (†) 12,600 (—)
1989-90 recipients in June 1991 23,600 (—) 30,900 (—) 24,700 (—) 31,500 (—) 19,100 (—) 20,800 (—) 21,100 (—) 27,200 (—) 19,200 (—) 22,200 (—) (4) (†) 19,100 (—)
1999-2000 recipients in 20015 35,400 (320) 47,900 (790) 41,000 (940) 39,400 (1,090) 27,600 (350) 30,400 (1,050) 30,700 (980) 42,800 (940) 28,800 (910) 33,900 (920) $30,000 (1,050) 30,100 (850)
                                               
Average salary, in constant 2008 dollars                                                
1974-75 recipients in February 19765 $28,800 (—) $46,200 (—) $38,600 (—) $32,500 (—) $23,800 (—) (†) $24,600 (—) $26,500 (—) (†) $25,300 (—) (4) (†) $21,900 (—)
1979-80 recipients in May 19815 36,000 (—) 53,000 (—) 38,600 (—) 41,000 (—) 27,200 (—) $32,400 (—) 34,300 (—) 38,600 (—) $29,600 (—) 33,200 (—) (4) (†) 29,800 (—)
1989-90 recipients in June 1991 37,300 (—) 48,800 (—) 39,100 (—) 49,700 (—) 30,200 (—) 32,900 (—) 33,300 (—) 42,900 (—) 30,300 (—) 35,100 (—) (4) (†) 30,100 (—)
1999-2000 recipients in 20015 43,100 (380) 58,300 (960) 49,900 (1,140) 48,000 (1,320) 33,600 (420) 37,000 (1,280) 37,400 (1,190) 52,000 (1,140) 35,100 (1,100) 41,200 (1,110) $36,500 (1,280) 36,600 (1,030)
                                               
Percent change in average salary,
   in constant 2008 dollars
                                               
1976 to 2001 49.7 (—) 26.3 (—) 29.2 (—) 47.4 (—) 41.0 (—) (†) 52.0 (—) 96.3 (—) (†) 62.6 (—) (†) 66.8 (—)
1991 to 2001 15.4 (—) 19.3 (—) 27.6 (—) -3.6 (—) 11.2 (—) 12.4 (—) 12.4 (—) 21.1 (—) 15.8 (—) 17.4 (—) (†) 21.5 (—)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
1 Includes those who have not finished all requirements for teaching certification or were previously qualified to teach.
2 Most educators work 9- to 10-month contracts.
3 Includes computer sciences.
4 Included in social sciences.
5 Reported salaries of full-time workers under $2,600 in 1976, $4,200 in 1981, and $1,000 in 2001 were excluded from the tabulations. Also, those with salaries over $500,000 in 2001 were excluded.
NOTE: Data are from sample surveys of recent college graduates. Data exclude bachelor's degree recipients from U.S. Service Academies, deceased graduates, and graduates living at foreign addresses at the time of the survey. Total includes fields not separately shown. Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Notes on methodology are included in Appendix A: Guide to Sources. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Recent College Graduates" surveys, 1976 through 1991; and 2000/01 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:2000/01). (This table was prepared October 2009.)

2009 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest