Good News (Mostly) For This Year's College Graduates

After collecting their college degrees, this year's crop of college graduates will soon be entering the job-market. CNN is reporting that starting salaries are (mostly) higher than last year:

Employers are paying more in starting salaries overall than they did with the class of 2003-2004, according to the spring salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. [N.A.C.E.]

Sure, there are a few majors that are seeing slight declines in starting salaries compared with last year. Namely, the starting salary for computer engineering jobs is down 2 percent; and the starting pay for information science jobs is down 0.8 percent.

But many have seen significant increases. Aerospace and aeronautical engineering majors, for instance, are enjoying a 9 percent increase in starting salaries; marketing majors have seen a 6 percent increase in starting salaries; while economics and finance majors are getting paid 5.1 percent more than last year.

Meanwhile, chemical, mechanical and civil engineers are also seeing paychecks that are at least 4 percent higher.

Even liberal arts grads as a group, those notoriously low-paid first-timers in the workforce, are enjoying a bump in pay of 4.2 percent, albeit to what is still one of the lowest starting salaries out there -- $30,337.

Here is a list of the average starting salaries for those jobs that are most offered:

• Accounting (private): $44,564
  
• Management trainee: $35,811
  
• Teaching: $29,733
  
• Consulting: $49,781
  
• Sales: $37,130
  
• Accounting (public): $41,039
  
• Financial/Treasury analysis: $45,596
  
• Software design/development: $53,729
  
• Design/construction engineering: $47,058
  
• Registered nurse: $38,775

These figures are national averages. Not surprisingly, teaching offers one of the lowest starting salaries for any of the job categories that the survey encompasses.

You can view NACE's press release here.

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