The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) published this Wednesday its tenth edition of the Compara Carreras analysis, which compares the costs and economic benefits of 65 bachelor’s degrees and 16 technical programs in the country.
The report revealed the income level, probability of finding a quality job and the sectors in which graduates of state-level degrees are employed.
The five degrees with the best average monthly income, according to the IMCO, are:
Specialty medicine: 43,601 pesos
Economics: 29,764 pesos
General medicine: 26,171 pesos
Automation and electronics engineering: 25,770 pesos
Computer sciences: 25,684 pesos.
While the careers with the lowest monthly income are:
Teacher training for preschool: 15,820 pesos
Educational guidance: 16,985 pesos
Social work: 17,023 pesos
Curricular design and pedagogy: 17,082 pesos
Teacher training in specific subjects: 17,350 pesos.
The IMCO highlighted that people with a bachelor’s degree earn, on average, 81% more than high school graduates and, in addition, are twice as likely to find formal employment.
It added that graduates of careers related to education earn 79% more than those who only completed high school, while in careers related to Science, Mathematics and Statistics the average income is 141% higher.
However, it warned that Mexico loses a large proportion of students on the path to higher education, since out of every 100 children between 5 and 6 years old, 27 finish a bachelor’s degree and only one completes a technical degree.
Mexico “is last among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of the percentage of young people enrolled in higher education,” the research center said.
They study the same careers as 10 years ago
The IMCO stated that training in the skills most in demand by the labor market, mainly those related to technology, do not adapt as quickly as necessary for the productive sector, and one of the reasons is that the careers most requested by students are:
Business Administration
Industrial Engineering
Law
Business and Commerce
Nursing
“Young people are studying the same careers as 10 years ago, without opting for the new trends and skills required by the Mexican labor market,” noted the IMCO
“Talent is key to the economic growth and competitiveness of the country, however, the private sector faces difficulties in finding the skills it needs,” it added.
Given the difficulty of the labor market to find suitable personnel, the human resources company Manpower stated that 99% of companies develop strategies to improve the skills of their employees.
Proposals to develop talent
The IMCO proposed that the Secretariat of Public Education promote mechanisms to identify students at risk of dropping out of school to ensure their access and permanence in education.
It also proposed strengthening dialogue between business organizations and universities to adapt their study plans to labor needs.
It also suggested encouraging young people to choose careers that are better valued by the labor market, and boosting enrollment in areas related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Source: forbes
