Economic Insights
Which Bachelor's Degree Programs Were Associated with the Highest Pay Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Focus on Very Detailed Fields of Study

Introduction

While it is well-known that graduates of certain faculties (e.g. engineering) earn more than other graduates (e.g. humanities), students may benefit from more detailed information since they must select more specific disciplines (e.g. Petroleum engineering or Materials engineering). This is particularly important since the expected earnings associated with a discipline is an important factor in the decision of students (Gunderson and Krashinsky, 2009). The purpose of this study is to provide earnings estimates of graduates of specific disciplines for a very wide range of bachelor's degree graduates.

The study focuses on bachelor's degree graduates from universities and colleges between the years 2010 and 2012 from the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS).^Note  The PSIS contains information on virtually all graduates, which facilitates a detailed breakdown of disciplines.^Note  The median paid earnings^Note  (T4 wages and salaries) of graduates are observed five years later (e.g. in 2017 for the 2012 graduating class) from the T1 Family File (T1FF) for individuals who did not pursue postsecondary schooling in the five years following graduation and did not report self-employment income five years after graduation.^Note  In all cases, results pertain to the period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, individuals with zero earnings are included in this study.^Note  Median earnings are reported in 2017 constant dollars (from Table 18-10-005-01) and are adjusted for differences in age, institution, and year of graduation across fields of study through quantile (median) regression.^Note  Results are reported by the four-digit 2011 Classification of Instructional Program (CIP), separately by sex, for fields with at least 50 observations. In total, results for 118 (123) fields are reported for men (women).^{Note Note  Note} 

Previously, Frenette and Frank (2016) reported earnings by detailed fields of study based on the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS), which was the only data source available to conduct such a study at that time.^Note  Although the NHS allowed the authors to focus on full-year, full-time workers, which provides an interesting comparison across disciplines, the sample is smaller than in PSIS. In fact, only 61 and 69 fields could be reported for male and female bachelor's degree graduates, respectively. Moreover, to obtain a large enough sample, the authors also had to include all workers between the ages of 25 and 54—many of whom graduated decades earlier. The current study builds on this work by reporting results for recent graduates in almost twice as many fields.

Most top earners are engineering graduates with various specialties

Most top-earning graduates came from various engineering specialties. In fact, 6 of the top 10 disciplines among men (Chart 1), and 7 of the top 10 disciplines among women consisted of various types of engineering specialties (Chart 2). For example, Mining and Mineral Engineering graduates ranked first among men with $111,533 in adjusted^Note  median earnings five years after graduation, and second among women with $89,680.^Note  Chemical engineering also ranked high, landing 5th among male graduates ($89,637) and 3rd among female graduates ($82,193). In total, there were 23 different types of engineering disciplines among men, all of which appeared in the top 44 of the 118 disciplines. Due to smaller samples, only 9 types of engineering graduates appeared on the list for women, and all were in the top 15 according to median earnings.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and automation may exert upward pressure on the wages of workers involved in developing the new technology. However, male graduates of Mechatronics, robotics, and automation engineering ranked 19th among the 21 engineering disciplines for men. Engineering fields associated with natural resource extraction earned more, including graduates from Mining and mineral engineering, Petroleum engineering, and Geological/geophysical engineering.

The findings also point to important differences among fields that are typically grouped together in aggregate analyses. For example, the CIP primary groupings combine engineering and architecture graduates. However, male graduates of Architecture and related services (other) earned less than the median male bachelor's degree graduate, and well below all 23 types of engineering graduates. Women in Architecture and related services (other) also earned less than their counterparts who took any of the 9 engineering programs, but slightly above the median for all female bachelor's degree graduates.

Graduates from other disciplines also ranked among the top earners. For example, male and female Pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and administration graduates registered the second highest median earnings among men with $106,055, and the highest median earnings among women with $94,177. Male graduates of Computer/information technology administration and management and Mathematics and computer science, as well as female graduates of Registered nursing, nursing administration, nursing research and clinical nursing and Management sciences and quantitative methods also landed in the top 10.

Data table for Chart 1-1



Data table for chart 1-1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 1-1. The information is grouped by Field of study (appearing as row headers), Median, calculated using 2017 constant dollars units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Field of study	Median
	2017 constant dollars
Mining and mineral engineering*	111,533
Pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and administration*	106,055
Petroleum engineering*	104,822
Nuclear engineering*	100,458
Chemical engineering*	89,637
Computer/information technology administration and management*	87,132
Mathematics and computer science*	86,076
Geological/geophysical engineering*	85,439
Industrial production technologies/technicians*	84,271
Engineering science*	82,877
Systems engineering*	82,272
Engineering, general*	82,204
Registered nursing, nursing administration, nursing research and clinical nursing*	82,079
Construction management*	81,711
Computer systems networking and telecommunications*	80,976
Construction engineering*	80,755
Electrical, electronics and communications engineering*	79,636
Mechanical engineering*	79,340
Computer engineering*	78,905
Public health*	78,506
Manufacturing engineering*	78,074
Management sciences and quantitative methods*	77,847
Computer programming*	77,776
Engineering, other*	77,497
Allied health diagnostic, intervention and treatment professions*	77,382
Aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical/space engineering*	77,176
Materials engineering*	76,738
Civil engineering*	76,451
Industrial engineering*	76,386
Mechatronics, robotics, and automation engineering*	75,422
Physical sciences, general*	75,259
Computer engineering technologies/technicians*	74,532
Engineering physics/applied physics*	74,505
Engineering-related fields*	74,146
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences business services	73,230
Criminal justice and corrections*	73,124
Management information systems and services*	72,921
Computer and information sciences and support services, general*	72,354
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering	71,998
Computer science*	71,573
Environmental/environmental health engineering	70,035
Finance and financial management services*	69,519
Business/commerce, general*	69,209
Surveying engineering	69,004
Physics	68,504
Entrepreneurial and small business operations	67,303
Accounting and related services	67,160
Marketing	66,220
Forestry	65,931
City/urban, community and regional planning	65,281
All fields of study	65,113
Business administration, management and operations	65,019
Computer software and media applications	65,014
Geological and Earth sciences/geosciences	64,969
Applied mathematics	64,382
Criminology	64,291
Human resources management and services	63,832
Public administration	63,352
Special education and teaching	63,265
*significantly different than all fields of study combined (p < 0.05) Sources: Statistics Canada, Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and T1 Family File (T1FF).

Data table for Chart 1-2



Data table for chart 1-2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 1-2. The information is grouped by Field of study (appearing as row headers), Median, calculated using 2017 constant dollars units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Field of study	Median
	2017 constant dollars
Agricultural business and management	63,160
Architecture and related services, other	62,833
Natural resources management and policy	62,436
Non-professional general legal studies (undergraduate)	62,219
Education, general	62,178
Social work	61,975
International business/trade/commerce	61,964
Mathematics	61,850
Urban studies/affairs	61,767
Teacher education and professional development, specific subject areas*	60,855
Multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary studies, other*	60,637
Teacher education and professional development, specific levels and methods*	59,825
Radio, television and digital communication	59,765
Biological and physical sciences*	59,144
Graphic communications*	59,092
Social sciences, general*	58,706
Business/managerial economics*	58,702
Teaching English or French as a second or foreign language	58,478
Public relations, advertising and applied communication*	57,998
Plant sciences	57,646
Ethnic, cultural minority, gender, and group studies*	57,623
Statistics*	57,570
Geography and cartography*	57,036
Chemistry*	56,902
Journalism*	56,199
Natural resources conservation and research*	55,699
Health services/allied health/health sciences, general*	54,531
French language and literature, general*	54,488
Political science and government*	54,209
International/global studies*	53,722
Design and applied arts*	53,169
Economics*	53,058
Health and physical education/fitness*	52,276
Communication and media studies*	52,205
Sociology*	51,962
Science, technology and society*	51,303
Ecology, evolution, systematics and population biology*	51,301
Microbiological sciences and immunology*	51,168
Biochemistry/biophysics and molecular biology*	50,961
Biology, general*	50,843
Linguistic, comparative and related language studies and services*	50,521
Psychology, general*	50,108
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities*	49,947
Hospitality administration/management*	49,203
History*	48,567
Parks, recreation and leisure studies*	48,406
Religion/religious studies*	47,174
Environmental design/architecture*	46,805
International relations and national security studies*	46,122
English rhetoric and composition/writing studies*	45,687
English language and literature, general*	42,298
Anthropology*	42,180
Philosophy, logic and ethics*	41,650
Theological and ministerial studies*	40,509
Film/video and photographic arts*	40,330
Area studies*	40,245
Fine arts and art studies*	38,840
Music*	38,462
Visual, digital and performing arts, general*	37,559
Drama/theatre arts and stagecraft*	35,935
*significantly different than all fields of study combined (p < 0.05) Sources: Statistics Canada, Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and T1 Family File (T1FF).

Data table for Chart 2-1



Data table for chart 2-1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 2-1. The information is grouped by Field of study (appearing as row headers), Median, calculated using 2017 constant dollars units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Field of study	Median
	2017 constant dollars
Pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and administration*	94,177
Mining and mineral engineering*	89,680
Chemical engineering*	82,193
Mechanical engineering*	77,144
Industrial engineering*	75,814
Electrical, electronics and communications engineering*	75,269
Materials engineering*	74,277
Registered nursing, nursing administration, nursing research and clinical nursing*	73,169
Management sciences and quantitative methods*	73,085
Computer engineering*	72,911
Civil engineering*	71,076
Allied health diagnostic, intervention and treatment professions*	70,862
Practical nursing, vocational nursing and nursing assistants*	70,180
Computer science*	69,170
Environmental/environmental health engineering*	68,581
Management information systems and services*	68,364
Clinical/medical laboratory science/research and allied professions*	67,674
Dental support services and allied professions*	66,804
Public health*	65,371
Forestry*	62,335
Business/commerce, general*	60,847
Dietetics and clinical nutrition services*	60,296
Legal support services	60,293
Accounting and related services*	60,083
Nutrition sciences*	60,071
Computer and information sciences and support services, general*	58,472
City/urban, community and regional planning*	57,647
Graphic communications*	57,507
Entrepreneurial and small business operations*	57,471
Marketing*	56,649
Architecture and related services, other	55,912
Human resources management and services*	55,689
Finance and financial management services*	55,545
Food science and technology	55,530
Business administration, management and operations*	55,148
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences business services	54,831
Geological and Earth sciences/geosciences	54,336
Mathematics	54,326
International business/trade/commerce	54,268
Social work	52,792
Quality control and safety technologies/technicians	52,510
Plant sciences	52,179
Journalism	52,043
Human services, general	51,983
Criminal justice and corrections	51,955
Teacher education and professional development, specific subject areas	51,177
Teaching English or French as a second or foreign language	51,035
All fields of study	50,986
Multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary studies, other	50,859
Public relations, advertising and applied communication	50,593
Special education and teaching	50,525
Agricultural business and management	50,286
Non-professional general legal studies (undergraduate)	49,825
Community organization and advocacy	49,584
Communication and media studies	49,111
Public administration	48,871
Teacher education and professional development, specific levels and methods*	48,330
Criminology	48,179
Business/managerial economics	47,888
Design and applied arts	47,819
Pharmacology and toxicology	47,599
Specialized sales, merchandising and marketing operations	47,534
Foods, nutrition and related services	47,222
*significantly different than all fields of study combined (p < 0.05) Sources: Statistics Canada, Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and T1 Family File (T1FF).

Data table for Chart 2-2



Data table for chart 2-2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 2-2. The information is grouped by Field of study (appearing as row headers), Median, calculated using 2017 constant dollars units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Field of study	Median
	2017 constant dollars
Animal sciences	46,777
Chemistry*	46,491
Rehabilitation and therapeutic professions	46,369
Science, technology and society	46,308
Health and medical administrative services	46,147
Clinical, counselling and applied psychology*	45,831
Radio, television and digital communication	45,822
Biochemistry/biophysics and molecular biology	45,773
Health and physical education/fitness*	45,733
Natural resources management and policy	45,381
Political science and government*	45,328
Natural resources conservation and research*	45,204
French language and literature, general*	45,011
Hospitality administration/management*	44,726
Linguistic, comparative and related language studies and services*	44,049
International/global studies*	43,503
Education, general*	43,408
Statistics	43,271
Biological and physical sciences*	42,536
Ecology, evolution, systematics and population biology*	42,356
International relations and national security studies*	42,278
Parks, recreation and leisure studies*	42,178
Peace studies and conflict resolution*	41,673
Sociology*	41,650
Psychology, general*	41,613
Geography and cartography*	41,553
Social sciences, general*	41,542
Romance languages, literatures and linguistics*	41,311
Social sciences, other*	40,864
English rhetoric and composition/writing studies*	40,774
Ethnic, cultural minority, gender, and group studies*	40,472
Biology, general*	40,356
Health services/allied health/health sciences, general*	40,211
Zoology/animal biology*	39,870
History*	39,658
Cell/cellular biology and anatomical sciences*	39,119
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities*	39,012
French literature*	38,946
Environmental design/architecture*	38,910
Microbiological sciences and immunology*	38,849
Sociology and anthropology*	38,658
Mental and social health services and allied professions*	38,580
Gerontology*	38,443
Film/video and photographic arts*	38,351
English language and literature, general*	38,269
Anthropology*	38,121
Human development, family studies and related services*	37,438
Philosophy, logic and ethics*	37,413
Student counselling and personnel services*	36,978
Economics*	34,777
Classical and ancient studies*	34,615
Visual, digital and performing arts, general*	33,765
Fine arts and art studies*	33,206
Area studies*	33,119
Research and experimental psychology*	32,726
Drama/theatre arts and stagecraft*	32,597
Classics and classical languages, literatures and linguistics*	32,452
Religion/religious studies*	29,062
Archaeology*	26,346
Music*	22,174
Bilingual, multilingual and multicultural education*	19,892
*significantly different than all fields of study combined (p < 0.05) Sources: Statistics Canada, Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and T1 Family File (T1FF).

Graduates from certain programs earned multiple times more than others

Graduates in the top 10 fields generally earned multiple times more than those at the bottom. For men, median earnings ranged from $82,877 and $111,533 among disciplines in the top 10, which was generally about two to three times more than the range at the bottom ($42,298 and $35,935). For women, the disparity was even larger—$72,911 and $94,177 at the top, about two to five times more than at the bottom ($33,765 to $19,892).

Most of the disciplines associated with the lowest median earnings were in arts or humanities. In fact, 8 out of the bottom 10 fields among men and women were in arts or humanities. The lowest-paying field among male graduates was Drama/theatre arts and stagecraft ($35,935), while for women, it was Bilingual, multilingual and multicultural education ($19,892). Music graduates earned the third least for men ($38,462) and second least for women ($22,174). In the vast majority of cases, the median earnings of arts and humanities graduates were well below than the median earnings of all bachelor's degree graduates for both men and women.

Graduates from certain other disciplines outside of the arts and humanities also landed in the bottom 10. These included male and female graduates of Area studies programs, as well as male graduates of Anthropology, and female graduates of Research and experimental psychology.

Female and male graduates of female-dominated disciplines registered mixed results

Although several male-dominated disciplines ranked high in median earnings among male graduates (e.g. engineering, mathematics, or computer related fields), female-dominated disciplines (those with at least 75% of their graduates who are female) registered diverse outcomes.

In particular, nursing graduates ranked relatively high in terms of median earnings for both men and women. The median female graduate of Registered nursing, nursing administration, nursing research and clinical nursing earned $73,169 (8th on the list). They were closely followed by Practical nursing, vocational nursing and nursing assistants in 13th place with median earnings of $70,180. Although nursing is still a female-dominated area, men who chose to study Registered nursing, nursing administration, nursing research and clinical nursing also performed well in the labour market five years after graduation, with the median graduate earning $82,079 (13th among male bachelor's degree graduates).

In general, nursing graduates earned considerably more than graduates of teacher education programs. Women who graduated from Teacher education and professional development, specific levels and methods (also female-dominated) registered $48,330 in median earnings (slightly below the average for all female bachelor's degree graduates), while their male counterparts also landed below the average for all male bachelor's degree graduates with $59,825 in median earnings.

Some graduates of female-dominated programs registered outcomes that were well-below average. For example, female graduates of Bilingual, multilingual and multicultural education registered $19,892 in median earnings five years after graduation, which was last among the 123 fields that could be examined. Male graduates of Linguistic, comparative and related language studies and services also registered median earnings that were well-below the average for all male bachelor's degree graduates.

Graduates in male-dominated disciplines (those with at least 75% of their graduates who are male) generally outperformed their counterparts in female-dominated disciplines. In fact, both men and women in male-dominated disciplines registered median earnings that were above the average of all bachelor's degree graduates for their respective sexes. Male-dominated disciplines consisted primarily of engineering, computer- and business-related fields.

Broad field of study classifications hide important differences in outcomes across specific disciplines

Many studies group disciplines in broad groups for ease of presentation. However, the results reported here suggest that this approach masks important differences within these broad groups.

For example, many health-related disciplines registered median earnings that were well-above the average among all bachelor's degree graduates. These included nursing and pharmacy programs (as noted above), and also Public health for both men and women. For women, it also included several other fields, such as Allied health diagnostic, intervention and treatment professions, Dental support services and allied professions, and Dietetics and clinical nutrition services. However, many health graduates registered below-average median earnings, such as Health services/allied health/health sciences (general) for both men and women, as well as several disciplines among women (e.g. Mental and social health services and allied professions; Rehabilitation and therapeutic professions).

Other broad program areas included disciplines that registered median earnings ranging from below-average to average, for the most part. Such was the case for science fields. Many biology-related disciplines registered below-average median earnings, while some programs were associated with slightly above-average median earnings (e.g. Physics and Physical sciences among men; Plant sciences and Geological and earth sciences/geosciences among women). In all cases, the median earnings registered by science graduates (including those in Physics and Chemistry) fell below those of engineering graduates. In most instances, the median earnings of biology-related disciplines were below those of health-related disciplines.

While some types of business graduates registered relatively high median earnings (e.g. Management sciences and quantitative methods—22nd among men and 9th among women), others registered relatively low median earnings (e.g. male Hospitality administration and Management graduates). In most cases, however, business graduates ranked above average in median earnings.

The median earnings of social science graduates generally ranged from average to well-below average for both sexes. For example, Social work graduates ranked slightly above average for women, and slightly below average for men. In contrast, Economics and Sociology graduates ranked well-below average for both sexes.^Note 

Conclusion

This study reports on the median earnings of bachelor's degree graduates five years after graduation (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), after adjusting for age, institution, and year of graduation. Results are shown for 118 fields for men and for 123 fields for women. This information is highly relevant to students, who must select specific disciplines and base their decisions in part on the earnings associated with disciplines.

The key findings are that graduates of various types of engineering programs generally rank at or near the top in terms of median earnings. Pharmacy graduates and graduates of other technical disciplines also predominantly performed well. In general, graduates near the top of the list earned multiple times more than those at the bottom (two to three times more for men, and two to five times more for women). Female and male graduates of female-dominated disciplines registered a diverse range of median earnings, while those of male-dominated disciplines largely registered relatively high median earnings. The study also highlights the fact that reporting labour market outcomes by broad discipline classification (e.g. science) can be very misleading, as outcomes often vary considerably among more specific disciplines.

Given the divergent outcomes by detailed fields of study that are most often grouped together in related literature, future work in the area may benefit by reporting earnings for the most detailed fields of study possible in the available data. More generally, it will be important to continue tracking the earnings of graduates in specific disciplines as the results reported should be interpreted within the context of the prevailing economic conditions of the 2010s. Sectoral shifts in demand are common and may differentially impact graduates from various disciplines (e.g. oil and other natural resource extraction), while the COVID pandemic may have longer term implications for future graduates (e.g. telework, automation, health care needs, transition to clean energy, gig employment, etc.)

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