Report: Few Black College Students Major in High-Paying Fields

Research shows that the good jobs (secure, high-paying, non-manual labor) are going to people with a Bachelor's degree. It's clear that the job market values college graduates. But some degrees pay off in career success more than others, and that's hurting black college-educated Americans, research shows.

Black students major less frequently in the lucrative fields of engineering and pharmaceutical sciences than in such lower-earning areas as social work and psychology, according to a report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Although black college enrollment grew from 10 percent to 15 percent from 1976 to 2012, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the new report suggested that this group of students is still not being funneled toward the highest-paying careers.

"It's hard to criticize anyone who wants to serve the community, but those majors just don't pay in America," said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown Center and co-author of the report. Other Georgetown research has shown that minority groups prioritize giving back and supporting their communities more than non-minority groups do, he said.