The Economic Guide To Picking A College Major

The raw data behind the story "The Economic Guide To Picking A College Major" https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-economic-guide-to-picking-a-college-major/.

college_grad_students

Format

A data frame with 173 rows representing majors (graduate vs nongraduate students) and 22 variables:

major_code

Major code, FO1DP in ACS PUMS

major

Major description

major_category

Category of major from Carnevale et al

grad_total

Total number of people with major

grad_sample_size

Sample size (unweighted) of full-time, year-round ONLY (used for earnings)

grad_employed

Number employed (ESR == 1 or 2)

grad_employed_fulltime_yearround

Employed at least 50 weeks (WKW == 1) and at least 35 hours (WKHP >= 35)

grad_unemployed

Number unemployed (ESR == 3)

grad_unemployment_rate

Unemployed / (Unemployed + Employed)

grad_p25th

25th percentile of earnings

grad_median

Median earnings of full-time, year-round workers

grad_p75th

75th percentile of earnings

nongrad_total

Total number of people with major

nongrad_employed

Number employed (ESR == 1 or 2)

nongrad_employed_fulltime_yearround

Employed at least 50 weeks (WKW == 1) and at least 35 hours (WKHP >= 35)

nongrad_unemployed

Number unemployed (ESR == 3)

nongrad_unemployment_rate

Unemployed / (Unemployed + Employed)

nongrad_p25th

25th percentile of earnings

nongrad_median

Median earnings of full-time, year-round workers

nongrad_p75th

75th percentile of earnings

grad_share

grad_total / (grad_total + nongrad_total)

grad_premium

(grad_median-nongrad_median)/nongrad_median

Source

See https://github.com/fivethirtyeight/data/blob/master/college-majors/readme.md.

See also

college_all_ages, college_recent_grads