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An April report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed the most employable college majors, which may come as a surprise to “starving artist” types. Contrary to the stereotype about a creative’s unemployability, the study’s findings revealed that prospects with a humanities degree, such as English, art, and history majors, are looking up, and increasingly so, while formerly lucrative fields, like tech and finance, may be on the downturn.
For college students, it means that humanities degrees are viable, and with a proper strategy to minimize college loans, financing your education doesn’t have to put you in debt.
A Shift in Employability
New graduates are fighting an increasingly hostile job market. While the headline numbers from the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report show the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.1% for June—compared to 4.2% in May—a separate report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows unemployment for recent grads at 5.8% for the first quarter of 2025, the highest rate since 2021. What’s worse, underemployment, defined as the percentage of college graduates working in jobs that typically don’t require a college degree, had risen to 41.2%, according to the New York Fed report.
Fields that used to be lucrative five years ago now appear to be locked in job deserts. A separate February analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed that tech jobs, which boast high salaries, are much harder to come by in 2025 than a few years prior. BLS projections predict that from 2023 to 2033, computer programmers will see a 10% decline in job prospects.
Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the companies at the forefront of generative AI, told Axios in May that he predicts AI will wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs, as well as increase unemployment to 10-20% over the next five years.
Tech layoffs in 2025 have been abundant, with 150 companies laying off approximately 74,400 workers by July, according to Layoffs.FYI, a tech layoff tracker. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in January that the company plans to automate tasks formerly carried out by midlevel engineers, making the roles redundant.
“Probably in 2025, we at Meta, as well as the other companies that are basically working on this, are going to have an AI that can effectively be a sort of midlevel engineer that you have at your company that can write code,” he said.
Other high-earning fields, like finance, saw lower unemployment rates than humanities majors. According to the NY Fed’s most recent numbers on the labor market for recent college graduates, finance majors sat at a steady 3.7% unemployment rate, compared to performing arts majors (2.7%), ethnic studies majors (2.6%), and social services majors (1.7%). Economic majors also ranked high on the list of unemployment (4.9%), alongside industrial engineering (4.6%) and business management (4%). Meanwhile, majors like philosophy (3.2%), art history (3%), and elementary education (1.8%) fared better.
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The Employment Over-Achievers
The most employable majors were, by far, those in healthcare and the sciences, as well as trade engineers. Electrical Engineering (2.2% unemployment), chemical engineering (2%), aerospace engineering (1.4%), and civil engineering majors (1%) saw healthy employment after graduation, as well as earth science (1.5%), nursing (1.4%), early childhood education (1.3%), and nutrition science majors (0.4%), which came out on top as the most employable field of study.
The employment industry pivot marks a culture shift in the perceived value of a humanities degree. Barthélémy Kiss, CEO of Powder, an AI-powered video clipping system for gamers, said that new hire priorities have changed in the face of the AI boom. Kiss has hired an architect-turned-front-end-developer who brought “unique” skills to building app interfaces, as well as a former film director who leads product vision and social media for Powder.
“As the developer of an AI video editor that automates and assists creativity for gaming creators, we need to develop a product that is very human-centric,” he explained.
“The two main skills [we’re looking for] are curiosity and adaptability. There is a sense that if you rate high with both of these characteristics, it’s even more important than your credentials. The best indicator of success on our team isn’t what you studied, but how fast you learn and how deeply you think.”
Financing Your College Degree
Smart planning for a prospective student’s college education can take a lot of pain out of the process.
Consider putting earnings into a 529 savings account, which allows contributions to grow tax-deferred. Withdrawals from a 529 account meant for education are tax-free when used for qualified education expenses. Contributions to 529 plans are seen by the IRS as gifts; in 2025, you can gift up to $19,000 per child for single filers or $38,000 for joint filers without the gifts counting toward your lifetime gift tax exemption.
If you have the funds and want to catch up on any missed contributions, 529 accounts can be funded for up to five years at once, meaning that an individual can contribute up to $95,000 per child in a single year to a 529 plan in 2025. After maxing out the five-year contribution cap, funds will start to count against an individual’s lifetime gift tax exemption, which caps out at $13.99 million in 2025. States offer various 529 account offers, with residents often offered additional benefits. Compare 529 plans by state and get the most out of your contributions.