Business Support

Types of Degrees Business Support Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many business support & assistant services graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	10,323
Undergraduate Certificate	3,192
Associate Degree	2,825
Bachelor’s Degree	264

What Business Support Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to business support were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Business Support Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in business support should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• 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.

Skills for Business Support Majors

business support majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Abilities for Business Support Majors

As a business support major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Can You Do With a Business Support Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with business support:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Cargo and Freight Agents	10.4%	$43,210
Customer Service Representatives	4.9%	$33,750
Freight Forwarders	10.4%	$43,210
Insurance Claims Clerks	11.1%	$39,660
Insurance Policy Processing Clerks	11.1%	$39,660
Patient Representatives	4.9%	$33,750
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	5.5%	$47,580
Receptionists and Information Clerks	9.1%	$29,140

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Support?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 372 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business support & assistant services in 2021, making it rank #224 in popularity. This major is dominated by women with about 58% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	9
Black or African American	27
Hispanic or Latino	119
White	89
International Students	4
Other Races/Ethnicities	16

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Business Support, too. About 1.5% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Business Support

Some degrees associated with business support may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

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

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	1.9%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	46.1%
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)	4.4%
Some College Courses	13.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	21.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	11.8%
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.	0.4%
Master’s Degree	0.6%
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.	0.3%
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%

Online Business Support Programs

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)	678	143
Certificate (2-4 Years)	6	1
Associate’s Degree	690	143
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Business Support

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

Major	Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management	395,227
Accounting	84,760
Finance & Financial Management	58,013
General Business/Commerce	57,204
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	56,747
Marketing	52,820
Human Resource Management	25,350
Hospitality Management	14,076
Entrepreneurial Studies	12,707
Management Information Systems	11,695
Real Estate	7,783
International Business	7,505
General Sales & Marketing	5,965
Other Business, Management & Marketing	4,903
Business/Managerial Economics	4,885
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	4,322
Construction Management	4,158
Insurance	2,334
Taxation	1,257
Business/Corporate Communications	837
Telecommunications Management	58

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

More about our data sources and methodologies.