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How 1nany graduates were continuing
t h eir education?
Two-thirds of the employed biological science
majors became biological technicians.
One-half of the employed chemistry majors
became chemists.
Graduates who secured jobs not directly related to their majors were using their training
in a variety of ways.
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What did the graduates earn?
The women graduates who were employed full
time had average salaries of $3,141 a year.
Four-fifths earned between $2,500 and $4,000.
In almost all instances these were starting salaries.
Variations among earnings were noted as
follow :
By occupation:
Teachers averaged $3,197 a year.
The best paying jobs averaged:
$3,900-chemists
3,848-mathematicians, statisticians
3,438-nurses
The lowest paying jobs averaged:
$2,420-sales clerks, retail workers
2,684--bank and insurance workers
2,704--typists ( not including secretaries
and stenographers )
By undergraduate major:
Salaries were higher for those who had secured
training in fields with a shortage of qualified
workers: Annual salaries averaging between
3,400 and $3,670 were received by graduates who
had majored in physical sciences, nursing, other
heal th fields, and mathematics; and between
$2,660 and $3,000 by majors in art, languages,
psychology. journalism, and music.
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t.
Among the 81,000 graduates, 18 percent were
coritirniing to attend school, half of them on a
full-time basis, and half part time. Most of the
latter g~~up were employed. Almost two-thirds
of the full-time students were working toward a
master's degree; a few toward a doctorate; and
most of the others toward a certificate for teaching
or some other type of work.
Education led the fields of graduate study,
followed by English, business and commerce,
and sociology and social work.
Two-thirds of the 82 percent of the graduates
not attending school said they planned to do
some advanced study in the future.
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W h at did the graduates t h ink about
future employment?
Among every 100 graduates:
26 wanted a career
16 expected to work indefinitely, but were not planning
IP
a career
12 expected to work only as necessary
46 preferred not to work after marriage, except briefly.
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16- 72896- 1
E1Dploy1Dent
of Wolllen
College Graduates
Class of 1955Survey of graduates in early 1956
Were they working, studying, or at home?
What kinds of jobs did they have?
Were their jobs related to their majors?
How much were they earning?
What kinds of Jobs did the employed
graduates secure?
Who were the women surveyed~
Of every 100 graduates-
By age:
24
49
19
8
were under 22 years of age
were 22 years of age
were 23 to 29 years of age
were 30 years of age or o,,er
By marital status:
64 were single {some were engaged)
34 were married ( over two-thirds of these were
working wives )
2 were widowed, divorced, or separated
,
By undergraduate major, there were:
These are some of
the questions students
and counselors ask as
they wonder about job
opportunities and
consider the college
courses a student
hould take to prepare for them.
Some answers have been provided in a questionnaire survey conducted by the Women's
Section of the National Vocational Guidance
Association and the Women's Bureau of the U.S.
Department of Labor.
35 in education
12 in English and foreign languages
11 in social sciences
8 in fine arts
· 8 in home economics
7 in natural sciences and mathematics
4 in business and commerce
3 -i11 nursing
12 in other subjects
were
were
were
were
More than four-fifths of the employed graduates indicated some relationship between their
current jobs and their college majors. They also
reported that their jobs were the type hoped for
and represented a step forward in their vocational development.
employed
attending school full time
seeking work
not seeking work
Information was supplied in the winter of
1955-56 by a sample of recent graduates selected
scientifically from colleges in all sections of the
country. They represented the 81,000 women
who received bachelor degrees in June 1955
from women's or coeducational colleges and
universities. Their degrees were divided about
evenly between B. A.'s and B. S.'s.
A copy of the full report, entitled, "Employment After College: Report on Women Graduates, Class of 1955," can be obtained by writing
to:
Women's Bureau
U. S. Department of Labor
Washington 25, D. C.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
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How did the jobs of these graduates
relate to their major subjects?
By current employment status:
80
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Teaching continues to
be the most popular profession of college-educated women. Three out
of :five of the employed
graduates became teachers. A substantial proportion of the others got
jobs as secretaries, typists, or clerks. The remainder were in a wide variety of occupations,
such as copywriter, dietitian, draftsman, editor,
home economist, librarian, mathematician, reporter, social worker, statistician, and store
manager or buyer.
_ Among the many graduates who found employment in occupations directly related to their
major subjects:
Ahnost all-95 percent-of the employed education majors became teachers.
(
At least half of the employed graduates who had
majored in physical education, English, music,
history, home economics, and mathematics also
became teachers.
ine-tenths of the employed nursing majors became nurses.
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