Worried about getting a job after college?  Study business, education or computer science.

In a new report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reviewed more than 150 occupations that typically require a bachelor’s degree. It projected that between 2010 and 2020, business fields will have as many as 2 million job openings, education will have 1.5 million and computer science and math will have 1.1 million. That’s out of more than 8.5 million overall job openings in the fields BLS studied.

What if you want to earn the highest starting salary? Stick to an engineering degree, with an average annual salary of $62,655, or computer science, drawing $59,221 a year. Humanities and social sciences came in at the bottom, with an average salary of $36,988, and education,  $40,668. Those figures are based on the average starting salaries of 2012 graduates by major.

People with a bachelor’s degree have a lower unemployment rate and earn more money than those with less education, according to the Labor Department.

One year after earning their degrees, the unemployment rate for 2007-2008 graduates stood just above 5% for education majors and 6% for computer science and math majors. For business majors, the most popular field of study, the rate was about 9%, BLS said. The unemployment rate was highest for humanities and social science majors, both coming in near 13%, the report found.

The report also looked at how much training a position might require, and whether an applicant needed experience or if  skills could be learned on the job.

In business, accountants and auditors have the best shot at finding a job, with a projected 452,100 positions available between 2010 and 2020, and they don’t necessarily need work experience to earn a median annual salary of $63,550. But agents and business managers of performers, artists and athletes won’t likely have as many opportunities – only 8,000 jobs projected through 2020 – and the positions require one to five years’ experience. The median annual pay is around $63,000, BLS found.

The report focused on occupations that require a bachelor’s degree, not ones requiring an associate’s degree or  a doctorate.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/07/10/to-follow-the-money-study-engineering/?mod=e2fb