Starting salaries for new grads have risen 3.4%

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Finally some good news! For the graduating class of 2012, the average starting salary rose by 3.4%, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), a non-profit group that links college career placement offices with employers. The average salary for a graduate with a bachelor degree is now $44,455, compared to $42,987 in 2011. 


Engineering grads have the highest starting salary, which averages $61,913. This news should make my friend annoyingly smug: She's majoring in engineering. The biggest increase is for education majors, whose salaries are 5.4% higher than last year. However don't get too excited; it's still below the median and behind most other fields with the exception of humanities and social science.

Here's NACE's table of average salaries by discipline, courtesy of Forbes.

Major	2012 Average Salary	2011 Average Salary	Percent Change
Engineering	$61,913	$59,591	3.9%
Computer Science	$59,221	$57,046	3.8%
Health Sciences	$49,196	$47,336	3.9%
Math & Sciences	$42,471	$41,370	2.7%
Education	$40,668	$38,581	5.4%
Humanities & Social Sciences	$36,988	$36,252	2.0%
Overall	$44,455	$42,987	3.4%

The NACE also reports that "educational-services" have been hiring the most graduates, 444,500. The next highest number was in the "professional, scientific and technical services" (which is good for my sister, who's majoring in Architectural Science). 

While these numbers are great for grads who've found a job in their field of study, the unemployment rate for students still sucks. In a NACE survey of 2012 graduates between February and April, only 25.5% had found a job before graduation. Unemployment for college graduates 24 years old and below with four-year degrees was at 8.2% in December, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At least those with a college degree have better prospects of keeping their job, contrary to my last post.