Business & Commerce

Types of Degrees Business & Commerce Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many general business/commerce graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	8,488
Graduate Certificate	402
Doctor’s Degree	247

What Business & Commerce Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to general business and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for General Business Majors

General Business majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Skills for General Business Majors

When studying general business, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for General Business Majors

A major in general business will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What Can You Do With a Business & Commerce Major?

People with a general business degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Administrative Services Managers	10.1%	$96,180
Business Professors	18.0%	$83,960
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Construction Managers	11.1%	$93,370
Cost Estimators	10.5%	$64,040
General and Operations Managers	9.1%	$100,930
Investment Fund Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Loss Prevention Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Management Analysts	14.3%	$83,610
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Sales Managers	7.5%	$124,220
Security Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Social and Community Service Managers	18.0%	$65,320
Storage and Distribution Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Supply Chain Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Transportation Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Wind Energy Operations Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Wind Energy Project Managers	8.0%	$107,480

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Business & Commerce?

General Business/Commerce runs middle of the road when it comes to popularity, ranking #28 out of all the graduate majors we track. In 2021, about 8,488 graduates completed their master’s degree in this field. This major attracts more men than women. About 58% of the graduates in this field are male.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of general business majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	512
Black or African American	725
Hispanic or Latino	567
White	4,596
International Students	1,506
Other Races/Ethnicities	582

Geographic Diversity

General Business appeals to people across the globe. About 17.7% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• India
• South Korea
• Saudi Arabia
• Vietnam

How Much Do Business & Commerce Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

The median early-career salary of general business/commerce students with a master’s degree is $70,803 a year according to 2019-2020 data from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $57,511 (25th percentile) and $84,075 (75th percentile).

One thing to note here is that not all of these people may be working in careers related to general business.

Salaries According to BLS

General Business majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $94,390 to $115,590 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Business & Commerce

Some careers associated with general business require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for general business careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.2%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	9.1%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	4.1%
Some College Courses	7.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	8.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	45.4%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	4.0%
Master’s Degree	14.1%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	2.3%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.3%
Doctoral Degree	5.1%

Online Business & Commerce Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 920 schools offered some type of general business/commerce program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	113	27
Certificate (2-4 Years)	3	0
Associate’s Degree	506	152
Bachelor’s Degree	44	13
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	128	27
Post-Master’s	9	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	27	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Business & Commerce Worth It?

The median salary for a general business grad is $103,330 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 159% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,268,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Business & Commerce

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to general business.

Major	Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management	131,555
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	31,701
Accounting	19,309
Human Resource Management	12,117
Finance & Financial Management	5,784
Marketing	4,011
Management Information Systems	2,766
International Business	2,007
Entrepreneurial Studies	1,823
Taxation	1,350
Hospitality Management	1,341
Real Estate	1,280
Other Business, Management & Marketing	1,073
General Sales & Marketing	537
Construction Management	466
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	180
Business/Managerial Economics	162
Insurance	143
Business/Corporate Communications	117
Telecommunications Management	23

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By U.S. Consulate General Munich under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.