For the past week, our Generation Jobless series has looked at the challenges young people are facing in today’s job market. As the recovery limps along and unemployment remains high, we’ve found young adults moving back in with their parents to save on expenses, rejecting Ivy League schools for less expensive state universities, and choosing liberal-arts majors even though science and engineering grads are in greater demand by employers. Below, we pull out some of the numbers that illustrate these and other trends.

Five lowest median earnings by college major, followed by popularity ranking of major, out of 173:

School student counseling: $20,000 (#172)

Counseling Psychology: $34,000 (#133)

Educational Psychology: $35,000 (#156)

Visual and Performing Arts: $36,000 (#103)

Library Science: $36,000 (#159)

Five highest median earnings by college major, followed by popularity ranking of major, out of 173:

Petroleum Engineering: $127,000 (#138)

Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration: $105,000 (#53)

Mining and Mineral Engineering: $101,500 (#162)

Nuclear Engineering: $96,000 (#149)

Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering: $96,000 (#145)

(Source: US Census)

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