A popular college major is one of the most likely to leave students underemployed, according to a new study from the education research group Degreechoices.
Criminal justice remains a popular college degree choice among undergraduates, and the conventional wisdom is that it will lead to a stable career within the realm of law enforcement.
Roughly 31,600 students earn a bachelor’s degree, and 8,370 students obtain an associate degree in criminal justice each year, according to college search platform Niche.com.
However, the Degreechoices study found the popular criminal justice major was actually the most underemployed degree choice of all.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
These graduates faced the highest levels of underemployment at 71.5 percent, just ahead of performing arts and art history graduates.
Underemployment, while different than pure unemployment levels, tracks the share of graduates working in jobs that typically do not require a college degree. It also looks at the median wage for degrees for both early and mid-career graduates.
After forking over a significant amount of money for their degrees, this could indicate the criminal justice major may not be worth it come graduation day.
“Many facilities are desperately promoting to attain new talent. It has more to do with the stress of those roles, mixed with long hours and income that while decent seems inadequate given the numerous responsibilities required,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.
Criminal justice majors made a median wage of $41,000 in their early careers, while mid-career graduates earned $70,000.
The unemployment rate for the field was at 2.8 percent, which while relatively low, might not make up for other aspects of the job, experts say. This includes the fact that many criminal justice jobs do not require a degree and also don’t pay higher just because you have your diploma.
“Criminal justice, for example, is high on the list because it’s sold as a path to law enforcement or legal careers,” HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek. “But the reality is that many of these jobs pay poorly and offer little room for advancement. When you’re trained for a narrow industry, you’re stuck if the job market shifts or those fields become oversaturated, as they often do.”
Driscoll urged students pushed into seemingly reliable college degrees to rethink what they’re being told.
“College isn’t a path to a job like it used to be. And when that path now leads to massive debt and limited opportunities, then maybe it’s the system that needs fixing,” Driscoll said.
