Bachelor Women Tell All 2019: Earnings and Education
In 2019, women with a bachelor's degree earned a median weekly wage of about $1,305, roughly 67% more than those with only a high school diploma, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS. The gender pay gap narrowed, with full-time female workers aged 25 to 34 earning about 93% of what men in the same age group earned, per Pew Research Center Pew Research Center. Fields such as business, healthcare, and education remained the top degree choices among women completing a bachelor's program that year.
Women earned 57% of all bachelor's degrees conferred in the United States in 2019, the National Center for Education Statistics reports NCES. The share of women completing degrees in STEM fields, especially biology and health-related programs, continued to grow, while fields such as nursing and psychology saw especially high female enrollment. Among racial groups, Asian women had the highest bachelor's degree attainment rate, followed by White women, with Black and Hispanic women showing steady increases in completion rates.
Bachelor Women Tell All 2019: Workforce Participation and Occupations
The female labor force participation rate for women aged 25 to 54 with a bachelor's degree was around 74% in 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes BLS. Occupations with the highest shares of women holding bachelor's degrees included education, healthcare, business and finance, and legal and social services. Women in management, professional, and related occupations earned a median annual salary above $70,000, compared with lower earnings in service and sales roles.
Professional and business services, healthcare, and education were the top industries hiring bachelor's-level women in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS. Remote and flexible work arrangements were less common in 2019 than after 2020, but roles in information services, finance, and consulting offered higher rates of telework options. The unemployment rate for women aged 25 to 34 with a bachelor's degree was about 2.2% in 2019, well below the overall jobless rate.
Bachelor Women Tell All 2019: Financial Outcomes and Student Debt
The average student loan debt for bachelor's degree recipients in 2019 was approximately $28,950, including both federal and private loans, per the Institute for College Access and Success TICAS. Women held nearly two-thirds of outstanding student debt in the United States, the American Association of University Women reports AAUW. Despite higher debt burdens, bachelor's-level women had higher homeownership and retirement account participation rates than women with less education.
Median household income for families headed by a woman with a bachelor's degree was about $96,000 in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Census Bureau. Women with bachelor's degrees were more likely to have employer-sponsored retirement plans, health insurance, and paid leave than those with only a high school diploma. Financial literacy and investment participation among bachelor's-level women increased, with more women using financial advisors and robo-advisory platforms in the years following graduation.