College Majors Related to “Deskless” Jobs

College Search & Selection
1

<p>"Occupational expert Laurence Shatkin identifies college majors that relate to jobs not behind a desk in the new edition of his book 10 Best College Majors for Your Personality. To select these majors, Shatkin identified high-activity jobs using occupations’ O*NET ratings for Physical Activity and (lack of) Sitting. He then created a list of college majors that are related to jobs with high levels of activity..."</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Medicine
Annual earnings of related jobs: $164,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 21.8 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 26,050</p></li>
<li><p>Physician Assisting
Annual earnings of related jobs: $84,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 39.0 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 4,280</p></li>
<li><p>Bioengineering
Annual earnings of related jobs: $108,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 23.2 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 2,708</p></li>
<li><p>Civil Engineering
Annual earnings of related jobs: $83,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 21.7 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 12,678</p></li>
<li><p>Biochemistry
Annual earnings of related jobs: $82,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 36.9 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 3,498</p></li>
<li><p>Law
Annual earnings of related jobs: $112,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 13.0 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 24,392</p></li>
<li><p>Economics
Annual earnings of related jobs: $65,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 24.1 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 4,081</p></li>
<li><p>Accounting
Annual earnings of related jobs: $60,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 21.5 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 50,818</p></li>
<li><p>Veterinary Medicine
Annual earnings of related jobs: $81,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 32.9 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 3,020</p></li>
<li><p>Biology
Annual earnings of related jobs: $115,000
Percent growth of related jobs: 15.5 percent
Annual openings of related jobs: 2,010</p></li>
</ul>

<p>An interesting list for those of you who prefer to be on the move.</p>

2

<p>I don’t see how accounting and several of the others don’t require a lot of sitting. I thought the list would include construction, performing arts, things like that.</p>

3

<p>Does he have any clue about what an accountant does all day? Apparently not. </p>

<p>Has he looked at the employment stats for civil engineers since the onset of the Bush recession? Apparently not. </p>

<p>So why should anyone pay any attention at all to what he says - or start CC threads about it? </p>

<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>

4

<p>Also, medicine and veterinary medicine are not undergraduate majors.</p>

<p>The pay figures are also misleading, since they appear to include people in all levels of their careers. No career survey of new university bachelor’s degree graduates shows pay levels that high.</p>

<p>The pay figures are also misleading in other ways – for example, a few biologists may be well paid, but the masses who graduate with biology bachelor’s degrees face poor job and career prospects, which probably leads to many leaving that job and career area.</p>

5

<p>Odd list. There seems to be specific jobs he has identified within each category.</p>

<p>Biology - 2,010 jobs annually in the entire United states? Oh, but there is a 15.5% growth rate. That still only means 2,322 jobs in the entire country. Pretty small to focus your studies on.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>Yet biology is one of the most popular majors. You can probably guess what happens when so many graduates are competing for a very small number of (good) jobs.</p>

7

<p>I’m guessing many biology majors don’t necessarily want to go into biological research, which is what that figure implies.</p>

8

<p>

</li>
</ul>

<p>I agree. The small muscles in my right hand are very well-developed from all the mousework and 10-key input. Not to mention the muscles around my eyes, from squinting at Excel spreadsheets 8 hours a day.</p>

9

<p>I am also puzzled by the inclusion of law on this list. Life as a lawyer in most law firms I’m familiar with involves huge amounts of sitting and little, if any, physical activity.</p>

10

<p>Well, for the less successful litigation attorneys, it takes a lot of rigorous physical exercise to run after ambulances…</p>

11

<p>A serious answer: there are engineers (usually electrical) who assemble satellites. Their job is very hands on and physical.</p>