If DC were a state Part II

In a previous post, if DC were a state, it would rank as having the highest per capita income. What about if it were ranked on median income. The data for 2010 is not available, nor is the data available for personal income. The following for 2008 is for personal per capita income and median household income, courtesy of the 2011 Statistical Abstract.

11 states are ranked higher than DC in household median income, but DC is still highest in terms of per capita income.

State Personal Per capita income Personal Per capita income rank Median household income Median Household Income rank United States 40208 (X) 52029 (X) Alabama 33768 42 42666 46 Alaska 44039 8 68460 4 Arizona 34335 41 50958 22 Arkansas 32397 46 38815 48 California 43641 9 61021 9 Colorado 42985 12 56993 13 Connecticut 56272 1 68595 3 Delaware 40519 18 57989 11 District of Columbia 66119 (X) 57936 (X) Florida 39267 21 47778 33 Georgia 34893 38 50861 23 Hawaii 42055 15 67214 5 Idaho 33074 44 47576 34 Illinois 42347 14 56235 16 Indiana 34605 40 47966 32 Iowa 37402 28 48980 29 Kansas 38820 23 50177 25 Kentucky 32076 47 41538 47

Louisiana 36424 31 43733 41 Maine 36457 30 46581 36 Maryland 48378 6 70545 1 Massachusetts 51254 3 65401 6 Michigan 34949 37 48591 30 Minnesota 43037 11 57288 12 Mississippi 30399 50 37790 50 Missouri 36631 29 46867 35 Montana 34644 39 43654 42 Nebraska 39150 22 49693 28 Nevada 41182 17 56361 15 New Hampshire 43623 10 63731 7 New Jersey 51358 2 70378 2 New Mexico 33430 43 43508 44 New York 48753 4 56033 17 North Carolina 35344 35 46549 37 North Dakota 39870 20 45685 39 Ohio 36021 33 47988 31 Oklahoma 35985 34 42822 45 Oregon 36297 32 50169 26

Pennsylvania 40140 19 50713 24 Rhode Island 41368 16 55701 18 South Carolina 32666 45 44625 40 South Dakota 38661 25 46032 38 Tennessee 34976 36 43614 43 Texas 37774 26 50043 27 Utah 31944 48 56633 14 Vermont 38686 24 52104 20 Virginia 44224 7 61233 8 Washington 42857 13 58078 10 West Virginia 31641 49 37989 49 Wisconsin 37767 27 52094 21 Wyoming 48608 5 53207 19

How useful are these career guidance tools?

These are the information that BLS puts out:

1. Occupational Outlook Handbook

2. Career Information For Students

3. Career Guide to Industries

What thought process does some one go through when looking for a job, or deciding a major and how useful are these sources to the decision-making process? The information have been around for quite a while and thinking back I do not recall ever using these resources in determining my major or my career choice. The main drivers were what do I like and this essentially decided my major which in turn influenced the career choice. But there are some majors that do not point the way to a career or job.

Would a tool such as the following website from Washington State be more useful?

1. Pick a major or an interest. (I picked Animation, Video Graphics and Special Effects.)

2. Then it lists all of the colleges and institutes that offer courses/programs/certificates in the area of interest.

3. For instance, Animation Gaming Production Module 3 from Olympic College offers a certificate of recognition. The course costs $940 for 12 credits.

4. Click on the tab Employment Results and I see that 65 persons took the course with a 52% completion rate and of those 40 found employment with a median annual wage of $21,000. Unfortunately, only 2% are in the Arts and Entertainment industry (which I would expect is the industry targeted) and most are in retail, presumably working there to make ends meet while trying to achieve their goal of working in the field.

5. The tab on Occupation Information gives the expectations from working in the field.

6. The Student Characteristics tab shows that almost all the students do not have a BA.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of missing data and because of this it is of limited use. A loft of the 4-year colleges do not report the information and a lot of majors/fields do not have data for the colleges in terms of labor market outcomes.

Comparing the general guides from BLS and the Washington state website, I find that the latter is a more useful site and a more natural way to think of how people choose majors and then find out what they can do.

From where I'm sitting there are two ways to approach this:

1. Here's what I want to do, how do I do it?

2. Here's what I want to study, what can I do with it?