A look inside one of the classrooms at Ohio State’s Journalism Building, located at 242 W. 18th Ave. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
Sometimes less is more, but when it comes to choosing a major, Ohio State researchers found taking on two can offer protection during future economic downturns.
The national study conducted at Ohio State, which analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau between 2009 and 2019, found that double majors shielded workers from income slumps by an average of 56%. Andrew Hanks, lead author of the study and associate professor of consumer sciences, said he thinks of a double major like an “insurance policy” that helps people weather the storm during economic recessions.
“If someone with a single major is working a job in the same job [as a double major], they experience a wage cut or a negative effect might occur,” Hanks said. “Double majors experienced about half of that.”
Xuechao Qian, an economics Ph.D. graduate of Ohio State and a co-author of the study, said this trend occurs because those who earned double majors have diversified their human capital and obtained new skills and knowledge that they carry into the job market more so than those with single majors.
Diversification of the human capital portfolio can be even more beneficial than a varied financial one, Qian said.
“When we talk about human capital, which if we transfer that into a dollar value, it’s actually more valuable for the economy or for a person because we invest in our human capital through education and then we get the return through our career,” Qian said.
Although double majors insulate incomes from economic shock, certain double-major pairings are better at doing so than others, Hanks said.
Double majors that are unrelated, such as history and business, protect earnings by an average of 64%, Hanks said. Majors that are closely related like finance and accounting only average 34%.
The study also found that those with double majors are less likely to work in a field linked to their degrees. Hanks said 70% of double majors have jobs unrelated to their undergraduate studies.
This trend happens because those with double majors have broader skills and broader appeal to the job market, Qian said.
“For example, people with a double major between education and economics are probably going to be some data analyst, which is different from economists and different from educators,” Qian said.
According to the study, universities can help diversify their students’ human capital by encouraging collaborations between departments, which could lead to more students adding a second major. Career counselors can also highlight the possible advantages of human capital diversification to students by recommending minors or second majors or guiding students through the breadth of classes that they take.
