#GraduateEmployment

A fresh labor-market study challenges the long-held belief that STEM degrees are the sole path to secure jobs. Data from the New York Fed indicate nutrition, construction services, and animal/plant sciences graduates in the United States experienced very low unemployment in 2023. The findings, summarized for a broader audience, prompt Thai students and parents to reconsider how degree choices align with employability in a rapidly changing economy.

In 2023, graduates aged 22 to 27 across diverse fields posted surprisingly low unemployment in nontraditional areas. Nutrition sciences, construction services, and animal or plant sciences reported unemployment rates around 1 percent or lower. Meanwhile, some tech-heavy majors faced higher unemployment, with computer science, chemistry, and physics hovering at or above 6 percent, and computer engineering around 7.5 percent. The contrast underscores a labor market that rewards both technical skill and practical capability in sectors such as health, construction, and life sciences.

A new report has turned expectations about employability on their head, showing that graduates of nutrition, construction services, and animal/plant sciences have the lowest unemployment rates among recent U.S. college graduates—beating even traditional STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields such as chemistry and physics. The findings, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and published in Entrepreneur on May 16, highlight changing dynamics in the labor market and have important implications for Thai students considering their future studies.