The Paradox of Marketability: Degree Utilization and Labor Market Outcomes by College Field of Study

Scholars often assume college graduates majoring in applied science and business have labor market advantages over liberal arts graduates because they learn more in-demand skills. Based on interviews with 91 college seniors and follow-up interviews after graduation, I evaluate connections between graduates’ classroom concepts, entry-level tasks, and employment conditions. Analysis reveals many Engineering and Business alumni land “good” jobs—yet undertake clerical work. Meanwhile, liberal arts majors often use classroom concepts at work but rarely have high salaries. I, therefore, reveal a paradox of marketability: the most marketable (in-demand) college graduates do not necessarily use their degree-specific content at work, and the least marketable students may not receive gainful employment even when demonstrating their degree usage to employers. Based on these findings, I build off human capital theory and institutional theories of higher education to advance a conceptual framework that argues college majors are unique sites of cultural value that pay off for graduates independently of skill-use.