Life after UMass: what do the job markets look like?

AMHERST- Waking up at 6:45 a.m., Chris Deacetis, 19, of Tewksbury, begins his long day of work. As a civil engineering major, the University of Massachusetts sophomore faces back-to-back-to-back classes, and ends his day at 11:30 p.m. in W.E.B Dubois Library, completing practice problems, solving mathematic equations, and studying for exams.

While Deacetis is busy in the library, Erin Mabee, 20, of Saugus, spends her entire day in the UMass Theater, which includes Bowker auditorium, the Rand Theater, and the Curtain Theater. Mabee finishes her day at 11 p.m., after sewing costumes, painting sets, building a stage and researching a specific time period for a production.

Both students dedicate the majority of their time to their schoolwork, but, after graduation, they’ll face different fates. The National Association of Colleges and Employers, NACE, predicts a 13 percent increase in hiring for this year’s college graduates over last year’s.

While most employers will be increasing the number of newly graduated students, some majors will fare better than others. Finance, medical, computer and information science, accounting, management, and engineering majors are in high demand this year. Students with careers geared more towards these majors will have an easier time finding a job after graduation, compared to those who choose to major in a different field.

Not only are jobs in medical, computers, and technology high in demand this year, but also they are projected to be the highest percent increase for jobs in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Social service occupations are also projected to have a high percent increase in 2020. With these fields predicted to stay in demand in the future, securing a steady job in these fields will be easier compared to other fields of study.

Despite the job market for arts majors, Mabee is passionate about her major choice.

The Rand Theater, located in the Fine Arts Center at UMass

“I picked my major because I believe that you should always follow your passion,” said Mabee. “I knew that majoring in the arts wouldn’t be easy after I graduated, but I still picked theater regardless of what my future finances look like. I’d rather love what I do for a living and be dirt poor, than be filthy rich living as a lawyer doing something I hate.”

The Economic Policy Institute said that the overall unemployment rate for young college graduates in 2012 was 9.4 percent. Mabee, along with other students with art degrees, face an overall unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But engineering majors, like Deacetis, have a rate of unemployment rate of 5.1 percent.

The degrees with the highest rates of unemployment were architecture, arts, and humanities and liberal arts, with unemployment rates from 9.4 to 13.9 percent, according to Georgetown University’s Hard Times: Not All College Degrees are Created Equal. Health and education degree holders faced the lowest unemployment rates, tied at 5.4 percent.

“First day of classes first semester my teacher told my class that we will not have a hard time finding a job,” said Deacetis. “I like math and science, but the work is extremely difficult. I hate having to wake up for my 8 a.m. classes every morning and that I sometimes can’t go out with my friends on the weekends, but in the end, it’ll definitely pay off with an almost guaranteed job and steady salary.”

A UMass sophomore reading her behavioral neuroscience textbook

According to Hard Times, recent college graduates who majored in engineering have almost double the average starting salary compared to those who majored in the arts. Even with added practice, experienced college graduates and graduate degree holders who majored in engineering will continue to make almost double of what the average arts major will make. Majors with high unemployment rates, like architecture, arts, and humanities and liberal arts also had some of the lowest starting salaries, ranging from $30,000 to $32,000. Computer mathematics and engineering have the highest starting salary for recent college graduates, ranging from $46,000 to $55,000.

“No matter how stressful theater can be, whether it’s preparing for a show of thinking about my future, whenever I get up on stage those thoughts completely escape my mind, and I realize it’s all worth it,” said Mabee, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”