Percentage of Employers Offering Signing Bonuses Increasing

Chemical engineers top the list at $5,250

More employers plan to offer signing bonuses to Class of 2015 college graduates than they did for any graduating class over the past five years, according to a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Fifty-one percent of respondents to NACE’s Job Outlook 2015 survey report that they will offer signing bonuses to Class of 2015 graduates, marking the first year that the percentage of employers with plans to offer signing bonuses has topped 50%.

Among the employers with plans to offer signing bonuses, almost two-thirds plan to offer them only to selected bachelor’s-degree candidates. The selected majors that are most likely to receive signing bonuses are business, engineering, and the computer sciences fields.

Chemical engineering majors are projected to receive the largest average signing bonus at $5,250, followed by engineering majors (not specified) at $5,107, and computer science majors at $4,364.

By industry, food and beverage manufacturers are most inclined to offer signing bonuses to the Class of 2015 graduates.