WOMEN now account for more than half (50.7 percent) of the collegeeducated labor force in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. Today, there are more women ages 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher in the labor force than before the pandemic — 31.3 million in the second quarter of 2022, compared with 29.1 million in the same quarter of 2019.

THAT same survey showed the number of college-educated men ages 25 and up in the labor force is greater than before the pandemic — 30.5 million, up from 29.1 million — but their ranks have not increased as quickly as those of women.

ACCORDING to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the amount of new college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in education have decreased over the last few decades. In the 1970-71 school year, education was the most popular field for U.S. undergraduates, with 176,307 bachelor’s degrees in education awarded that year, or 21 percent of all degrees. In 2019-20, only 85,057 education degrees were issued, only 4 percent of the more than 2 million total degrees issued that year.

COLLEGES and universities now issue more degrees in business and health professions than in education — the two largest shares of bachelor’s degrees issued in 2019-20 was 19 percent for a business focus and 13 percent for a health focus. Possibilities for the lack of interest in pursuing education degrees include stress and burnout, low wages that have remained stagnant, and concern about arguments surrounding curriculums.

A WalletHub report, 2022’s Best and Worst States for Teachers, did not bode well for New Hampshire, which ranked at No. 50 on the list, coming in dead last when examining teachers’ career opportunities and competition. However, New Hampshire was No. 3 for having the one of the lowest pupil-teacher ratios.