so theres actually 3.2 million jobs available in america

[richardhutnik]

mrstickball said:

Now think about the likelihood of careers available in these fields.

Here is an additional list that is more exhaustive:

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/tables/dt10_282.asp?referrer=list

Looking at the list, you find the top 5 types of degrees granted at the bachelors level in comparison to 1980's as follows:

1. Transportation & Material Moving - 1,877% (I think this is because colleges barely existed to serve this field in 1980)
2. Parks, Recreational Studies and Fitness - 446%
3. Legal Studies - 387%
4. Gender Studies - 203%
5. Communication Technology - 183%

And the worst-growing (the total number of bachelors degrees given since 1980 has increased 50%, so that is the average among all fields):

1. Library Science -   -80%
2. Physical Sciences -   -6%
3. Education - -6%
4. Architecture - 7%
5. Engineering - 9%

 

And growth in terms of raw numbers of degrees given - 1980 vs. 2009:

1. Business - 147,000
2. Social Sciences & History - 69,000
3. Psycology - 53,000
4. Journalism & Communications - 49,000
5. Visual & Performing Arts - 47,000

 

What does that tell you? It tells me that the growth of degrees is heavily skewed to specific fields that likely did not grow with the number of degrees given, thus a major issue in terms of job availability vs. available population.

The theory of a business degree is that it is universal enough, it should enable someone to land a job somewhere.  That is the theory.