Members of the Class of 2004-05 preparing to enter the working world upon graduation have good reason to be hopeful, according to a new report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). The Spring 2005 issue of Salary Survey shows that average salary offers to new college graduates are climbing at a steady pace.
“There are areas—business and engineering, for example—that stand out with average salary increases nearly across the board,” explains Camille Luckenbaugh, NACE research director. “But having additional areas such as liberal arts and computer science showing increases indicates positive momentum in the job market and is very encouraging news for this year’s class of college graduates.”
The business disciplines fared especially well. Accounting graduates posted a 3.9 percent increase to their average starting salary offer since last Spring, raising it to $43,809. Graduates with business administration/management degrees saw their average jump 3.2 percent, boosting it to $39,448.
Salary offers to economics/finance graduates increased 5.1 percent, bringing their average starting salary offer to $42,802. Many of these grads were offered financial/treasury analysis positions, which averaged $44,825.
Marketing graduates posted a noteworthy increase of 6 percent, pushing their current average offer up to $37,832 (last year at this time these grads witnessed a 0.4 percent decrease in their average offer).
Computer science graduates saw a modest 2.6 percent increase to their average starting salary offer, raising it slightly to $51,292. However, a large number of software design and development positions were offered to these graduates, which averaged $55,108, significantly above the average.
Information sciences & systems graduates saw a slight decrease of 0.8 percent in their average offer, reducing it to $43,732.
Most engineering disciplines posted increases. Chemical engineering graduates saw a healthy increase of 4.3 percent, raising their average offer to $54,256, and civil engineering graduates saw a similar increase of 4 percent to their average offer, bringing it to $43,462. Electrical engineering graduates posted a 2.5 percent increase to their average starting salary offer, making it $52,009, and mechanical engineering graduates posted a slightly larger increase of 4.1 percent, raising their average offer to $51,046. Computer engineering graduates, on the other hand, saw their average salary offer drop by 2 percent to $51,496.
Even though the data on liberal arts graduates are scarce at this time, examining those majors as a group reveals that their average starting salary offer is on the rise. Overall, the average offer to these graduates is currently $30,337, up 4.2 percent from last year’s average of $29,119.
