For students and recent graduates, the money is in maths and engineering
Most of the highest paying jobs in the US require degrees in science, technology, engineering or maths, and students know it
For those trained in law, social sciences and the arts, I have some bad news: the best days may be over because the future belongs to scientists, engineers and mathematicians.
In high school and university classrooms across the United States, a quiet revolution is under way as students adapt to a difficult job market by choosing more quantitative disciplines.
Nearly all the highest-paid jobs in the United States require training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) disciplines.
More than 30 of the 50 best-paid occupations in the United States require graduate or postgraduate training in Stem subjects, including medical sciences, according to pay data collected by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics as part of its annual survey of Occupational Employment and Wages.
In response, annual enrolments in undergraduate Stem programmes have jumped by almost 700,000 (23 per cent) to 3.7 million between 2003 and 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, according to the US Department of Education.
Pay incentives as well as the associated professional prestige are steering students towards the highly numerate training needed to be financially successful in an economy dominated by computers, data analysis, engineering and complex technology.