Last week, we highlighted the programs of study where NC Community College graduates were making the highest average annual wages five years after graduation, as well as the percentage employed who graduated from that program. This week, we’re doing the same thing for UNC system graduates.
This data comes from the NC Tower database, maintained by NC Department of Commerce, which provides aggregate information on degree attainment, programs of study, and wage/employment information from public postsecondary institutions in North Carolina. For the current analysis, we used wage and employment data provided by 2012 UNC system graduates with Bachelor’s degrees five years post-graduation.
As evidenced by the data, Bachelor’s degree graduates with the highest annual average wages graduated with degrees in mathematics, science, and engineering. In addition, between 33% and 82% of graduates from these programs were employed in North Carolina 5 years after graduation. While salary and employment data related to degree program is important when making a career decision, it does not tell you what specific occupations or jobs graduates with certain degrees obtain, the growth potential among those occupations, or where the jobs are located. The NC Department of Commerce provides additional industry and occupational projection information, such as regional Star Jobs reports, that can provide information on promising occupations within a region.
The data initially published in this post inadvertently included graduate degree recipients with undergraduate degree recipients. This has since been corrected.
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Tags: colleges and universities, educational attainment, North Carolina
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