College students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim In developing and supporting your position be sure to ad

College is often seen as a ticket to higher quality of life and better paying jobs. However, most college graduates often face the harsh reality of unemployment and underemployment upon graduation. This could be corrected if students select their major based on the availability of jobs in the market. While this would solve the issue of high unemployment rates among college graduates, it is not a reliable method of employment prediction and would also lead to other concomitant issues in innovation. Hence, I partially disagree that college students should choose their fields of study based on availability of jobs, and believe that a balance of employability and interest must be taken into account during selection.
If college graduates selected their majors based on the availability of jobs, it would lead to a saturation in the field with the most jobs available, and decrease cross-disciplinary innovation. Currently, the most popular field is the Information Technology sector. This sector focuses on the innovations of Computer Science (CS). One such innovation in this field is the development of Drone technology. Drones are made using flight stabilization and field mapping CS algorithms, and the aerodynamic designs based on Mechanical engineering. There are much fewer jobs available in the Mechanical engineering sector as compared to Information Technology. However, it is due to the contribution of Mechanical Engineers that society can now experience the fruits of innovation that is Drone technology. This was developed through the hard work of engineers in both the Mechanical and Computer Science fields. Hence, if students were to choose their majors based on simply availability of jobs, we may not now have drone technology, which is developed in partnership with other sectors, which is being used to save lives.
Apart from drone technology, another popular technology based on CS is Data Analytics. Graduates from this field are now more in demand than even before. This reflects a changing trend of job demand by sector often seen across history. Data Science, a field that helps companies navigate the millions of terabytes of user data to provide an ideal customer experience, was not as popular 10 years as it is now. If back then, college students had not specialized in Data Science, we may not have the innovation of data analytics now which is the driver of the availability of jobs in this field. This serves as the perfect example of how trends in the job market may vary every few years. Hence, it is not reliable to select a college major based on the current availability of jobs as the market may change in a few years rendering what was thought to be a highly demanded course to be neglected entirely, or an uncommon path to become the most popular field.
The main reason why college students might be persuaded to select their fields of study based on availability of jobs is to mitigate the unemployment amongst college graduates. However, this only works to solve unemployment in the short term. For example, Computer Science (CS) is a popular field right now and offers plenty of jobs. If more students were to take CS as their major, it is true that these jobs will be filled quickly. Although, this will certainly serve to reduce unemployment rates in the short term, the market will auto correct itself. When more students transition to a CS major by leaving their fields of study in, for example, Architecture, Design, or Medicine, the supply of labor in those fields will decrease, result in an increase in availability of jobs in those sectors, while decreasing the availability of jobs in CS. Thus, CS graduates will be likely to end up without jobs, while the market searches for Architecture and Design graduates. Ultimately, the unemployment rate reduced by the decision to pursue availability of jobs in the market when selecting the major will return in the long term.
Selecting the college major based on the availability of jobs may seem like a prudent decision to reduce unemployment in the short term, but this unemployment always returns as the market auto adjusts itself. In addition, making the decision based on this criterion alone may lead to poorer innovation in other fields. Finally it is not a reliable method of major selection as the trends in the job market are fickle. College majors should not be selected based on the availability of jobs alone, but should be a combination of employability as well as personal interest. This allows students to innovate in their fields of interest and navigate any personal difficulties that may arise from unemployment.