Transportation & Materials Moving

Types of Degrees Transportation & Materials Moving Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many transportation & materials moving graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	24,751
Bachelor’s Degree	6,932
Associate Degree	1,812
Undergraduate Certificate	1,449
Master’s Degree	726
Graduate Certificate	50
Doctor’s Degree	31

What Transportation & Materials Moving Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to transportation & materials moving 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 Transportation & Materials Moving Majors

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

• Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• 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.
• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Skills for Transportation & Materials Moving Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to transportation & materials moving:

• Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
• 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.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Transportation & Materials Moving Majors

A major in transportation & materials moving will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• 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.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.

What Can You Do With a Transportation & Materials Moving Major?

People with a transportation & materials moving degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Air Traffic Controllers	3.6%	$124,540
Airfield Operations Specialists	9.0%	$52,200
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	3.5%	$140,340
Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity	9.0%	$42,080
Crane and Tower Operators	8.5%	$54,140
Dredge Operators	5.6%	$45,260
Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers	6.5%	$32,810
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators	12.1%	$39,780
Pile-Driver Operators	13.5%	$58,680
Storage and Distribution Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Vocational Education Professors	1.4%	$53,120

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Transportation & Materials Moving?

This major tends to be male dominated. About 85% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of transportation & materials moving majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	288
Black or African American	359
Hispanic or Latino	725
White	4,322
International Students	594
Other Races/Ethnicities	644

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Transportation & Materials Moving, too. About 8.6% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Transportation & Materials Moving

Some careers associated with transportation & materials moving 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 transportation & materials moving careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	8.8%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	50.2%
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)	16.1%
Some College Courses	6.3%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	6.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	9.6%
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.	0.6%
Master’s Degree	1.6%
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.	0.1%
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.	0.1%
Doctoral Degree	0.2%

Online Transportation & Materials Moving 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)	234	4
Certificate (2-4 Years)	12	0
Associate’s Degree	432	16
Bachelor’s Degree	34	14
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	64	38
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	16	10
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Transportation & Materials Moving

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to transportation & materials moving.

Major	Number of Grads
Personal & Culinary Services	157,937
Mechanic & Repair Technologies	110,408
Precision Production	60,170
Construction Trades	46,111

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 Alessandro Aceri under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.