Unemployment soars for architects

@CNNMoney January 4, 2012: 1:02 PM ET
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- If you want the best odds of getting a job after graduation, don't major in architecture.

Among recent college grads, architecture majors by far have the highest unemployment rate at 13.9%. That's according to a new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce.

The collapse of the construction and home-building industries in the recession is to blame. Even after gaining years of experience, architecture grads ages 30 and up, have a high unemployment rate at 9.2%.

Arts majors also have it tough, with an 11.1% unemployment rate for recent grads and a 7.1% rate for those with experience.

That said, the economy has shown that not all majors are created equal. As the education and health industries have continued to grow, majors in those fields have the lowest unemployment rate among recent grads, at 5.4%.

In general, the unemployment rate is lower for workers with graduate degrees than those with just a bachelor's. But the payoffs for a grad degree also vary by major.

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Health care workers with just a bachelor's for example, have lower unemployment rates than graduate degree holders in nearly every other field.

The Georgetown report analyzed data from an in-depth Census study called the American Community Survey, taken in 2009 and 2010. Recent grads are defined as workers between ages 22 and 26.  To top of page

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