How Much Do Virginia Graduates Earn

Related Post: New Wage Data from SCHEV Download the full SCHEV Report:  The Earning Power of Recent Graduates

When students think about going to college, they should also consider the earning potential of different college majors. College is expensive and requires an investment of time that could otherwise be committed to earning a living and advancing in an career. However, not all majors offer the same earning potential, and some may not repay the investment of time and money that students put into them.

New data from the State Council of Higher Education can help students anticipate the wage they are likely to earn if they graduate from a Virginia college and stay here to work. This post details earning by major. For more information on the SCHEV study and how to use the website where results are posted, read College Degrees and Wages in Virginia, New Data from SCHEV.

College Degrees and Wages in Virginia, New Data from SCHEV

Related Post: How Much Do Virginia Graduates Earn Download the full SCHEV Report:  The Earning Power of Recent Graduates

Given the costs of college today, it's important for prospective students to think carefully about the potential for future earnings. We all know that, on average, workers with a bachelor's degree earn more those with an associate's degrees, who in turn earn more than those with just a high school diploma. But the average wage for all graduates with a bachelor's degree, or associate's degree, or certificate is not the most helpful bit of information for planning a college career. Not all college degrees are of equal value, because there is so much difference in earning potential among the different college majors. For example,:

• The median wage for Virginia graduates with a bachelor's degree in Engineering or Computer Science is twice that of those who majored in Biology or Physical Education. 
• The median wage for graduates who completed a 1-2 year certificate in Precision Metal Work or Industrial Production is $10,000 more per year than the median wage for those who majored in Psychology, Athletic Training or Fashion Design at a four-year college or university.

Virginia Employment Estimates and Projections

Related Posts: Crosswalking occupations to clusters Career Clusters 2010-2020

In order to plan CTE programs that will connect students to promising jobs, it's helpful to keep an eye on job trends and pay attention to where jobs are and where jobs are being added. The realities of jobs and employment are not always what we expect.

At Trailblazers, we have just finished matching the VEC's new long-term employment projections to CTE's career clusters, and for some the results might be a surprise. The largest clusters that employ the most people are not those that attract a lot of attention or publicity. They are not fast growing and they do not provide uniformly high wages. But their sheer size makes them important for Virginia's economy and means that they will employ many CTE graduates. Inversely, some of the most well known, most talked-about clusters, are small. They are important because they are growing, or because of the quality of their jobs, but not because they employ the most people.

Crosswalking Occupations to Career Clusters

Related Information: All About Career Clusters National Projections Career Cluster Crosswalks

Not everybody needs to dig down as far into the weeds as I am going to go in this post, but I want to records these details just so they are available if needed.

Every two years the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases new data about employment in hundreds of occupations across the country. States, including Virginia, use the work done by the BLS as the basis for creating data about their own employment, and release these figures about a year later. The Virginia data are now available from the Virginia Workforce Connection website. National and state data systems use a common list of occupations based on the Standard Occupational Classification system (SOC). These occupations are divided into 22 major groups.

Occupational Unemployment Rates

Related Posts: Key Industries for Virginia

Unemployment is a frightening prospect for everyone, but some workers are a lot more vulnerable to it than others. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates unemployment rates for major occupational groups; the rates for 2012 are shown in the graph below. The highest unemployment rates are found in the fields of agriculture, construction, buildings and grounds, and food service. All of these fields are vulnerable to economic downturns and suffered particularly badly in the recession. Despite huge job losses, however, these are important sectors of our economy. Employment will rise when times are good, and CTE students will continue to study for these jobs. However, students who enter these fields need to know how unstable they are and that they face a significant likelihood of job loss in every recession.

Job Prospects in the Information Technology Cluster

Virginia CTE offers students many opportunities to get started in IT, with the Microsoft IT Academy Program, with basic courses like Computer Applications, and with more advanced ones such as Database Design, Programming, Networking, Robotics, and Systems Technology. Although thousands of students take basic IT courses each year, too few schools teach advanced programs and too few students complete them. In 2012 fewer than 2,000 CTE students statewide completed a program in one of these five advanced subjects, even though there are 200,000 IT jobs in the state, and the demand for these skills continues to grow. Additionally, these skills are not just essential for IT workers, but also for workers in many other fields, including engineering, science, finance, and logistics.

It would be ideal to offer CTE's advanced IT and computer science courses to students in every high school across the state. Unfortunately, this is much easier said than done, in part because wages in IT are high and it can be difficult to recruit people from this field into teaching. Despite the difficulties, however, it is time to begin looking for ways to expand IT opportunities to more students, perhaps through increasing online study or by increasing high-school/postsecondary connections, so students can take more advantage of what is available in local colleges.

New Occupations

Related Posts: Why care about occupation data

Our economy is constantly adding and dropping occupations as we implement new innovations, discover new wants, and abandoned old ones. In 1920, the Census count of "Gainful Workers 10 Years Old and Over" included:

• Coopers 19,066 
• Paper hangers 18,746 
• Corset factory workers 12,642 
• Boiler washers and engine hostlers 25,305 
• Shoemakers and cobblers (non- factory) 78,859 
• Drayman, teamsters, and carriage drivers 420,189 

These occupations have all but disappeared today, along with the barrels, wallpaper, corsets, steam engines, hand made shoes, and horse drawn vehicles with which they worked.