Psychology Baccalaureates at Work: Major Area Subspecializations, Earnings, and Occupations

Abstract

A Census Bureau national survey identified baccalaureates aged up to 64 years having major area subspecializations labeled “psychology,” “industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology,” and “counseling psychology.” Median 2009 earnings of all such types of baccalaureate psychology alumni were well below the distribution mean of the153 fields in the survey-wide sample. Further, psychology subspecialization group earnings differed widely from one another. As terminal baccalaureates, those who presumably specialized in counseling psychology earned only 54.7% of the wages of counterparts who specialized in I/O psychology. Undergraduate specializations and psychology subspecializations were associated with patterns of obtained occupational categories. Future developments in subspecializations for psychology majors were discussed in terms of intradepartmental curricular tracks.