I think if you have an aptitude and/or interest in math/sciences/engineering, you really should try to go for that as there are more and better jobs, generally speaking. But, who is the 1% that people are talking about so much now in the US? Mostly corporate CEOs, which are people with MBAs. The PhD chemists (Angela Merkel excluded, maybe)(look it up!) aren't the ones with the *huge* salaries, either.
That being said, I went to a small liberal arts college and have a core group of great friends who all graduated from there. I majored in Chemistry, my career has been good, though I don't exactly do chemistry these days, and I was unemployed for 9 months in 2008. One friend majored in Spanish. She has a great career in the benefit management industry. One friend double majored in Spanish and Theatre, became a teacher, then started his own educational services company. One double majored in Philosophy and Religious Studies. Not that long after we graduated he got a job as an office manager at an architecture/engineering firm, liked it, and soon became a certified urban planner and still works at the same company. One double majored in Government and piano performance and is now a (well-paid) lawyer. One majored in economics, eventually became a CPA, and works as the head finance guy at a small company. Etc Etc.
We all seem fairly happy, and one thing that's interesting about us is, we're all not quite using what we majored in exactly (and I've got many more college friends and acquaintances who are in the same boat). Some of us are closer to our major, and some further away, but I can tell you this, I know of no one from my college who is working pumping gas or serving French Fries.
One line my college was big on selling was that with a liberal arts education "you learn how to learn." We may have thought that was BS at the time but there *is* something to that. In today's job market one of the *key* things to do, in an interview and once you get the job, is communicate well and get along with people. You could be the best chemical engineer in the world but if you're abrasive and obnoxious, or if you can't write a good report or give a good presentation, you won't last long in many places.
As others have mentioned, some of these lessons are learned outside the classroom during college. Some of that stuff is even more important than that "book learning" stuff. If I need to know the electronegativity of calcium I'll go look it up. If I need a friend to talk to, I can't just look one up in a book - but I know I have ones I can call on the telephone.