10 college majors most likely to end up in retail

The majors are ranked according to how likely their graduates end up working in retail, measured against the national average.

1. Anthropology Likelihood of working retail: 2.1 times average

2. Fine Arts Likelihood of working retail: 1.8 times average

3. Film and Photography Likelihood of working retail: 2.6 times average

4. Philosophy and Religious Studies Likelihood of working retail: 2.0 times average

5. Graphic Design Likelihood of working retail: 0.6 times average

6. Studio Arts Likelihood of working retail: 2.3 times average

7. Liberal Arts Likelihood of working retail: 1.8 times average

8. Drama and Theater Arts Likelihood of working retail: 2.1 times average

9. Sociology Likelihood of working retail: 1.4 times average

10. English Likelihood of working retail: 1.4 times average

The list illustrates the idea of selection bias. If we randomly assigned students to majors, then we could conclude that the difference in outcomes was due to the major that they chose. However, students select majors, so it is difficult to infer causality from this correlation.  It could be that students who are likely to end up in retail are choosing these majors.

If causality is running the other way (from choice of retail to the major), then forcing your sons and daughters out of these majors would not necessarily improve their employment outcomes.

The truth is likely somewhere in between (both selection bias and causality explain the data), but that is only my opinion.  To prove this, you have to do a lot more work.