Mining degrees pay well but are not popular

Mining and geoscience degrees pay well compared to other degrees, but they are not popular with students.

The Wall Street Journal published an interactive chart that compares 173 possible college degrees looking at pay, earnings and current unemployment.

While the natural resource sector is still doing well compared to the rest of the economy, it was not surprising that degrees related to the field showed the lowest unemployment and some of the highest earnings. Mining and mineral engineering degree has the third highest median earnings at $101,000 per year. The top paying was petroleum engineering at $127,000 per year. A degree in geological and geophysical engineering was in the top 25 of highest paid out of 173 possible degrees.

But while a mining and mineral engineering degree ranked near the top in terms of pay, it was near the bottom in terms of popularity ranking 162 out of all 173 possible degrees.

2 Comments