Salaries Up for Class of 2011

02.17.2011
HR & Safety

For the first time since 2008, a college class is beginning the year with an average starting salary offer that is on the rise, according to results of a new survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

The overall average salary offer to a Class of 2011 bachelor’s degree graduate is $50,034, up 3.5% over last year at this time, according to NACE’s Winter 2011 Salary Survey report.

While not all categories of majors posted increases to their average salary offers, the increases seen in the survey report far outweigh the decreases. That’s a significant improvement over last year at this time. Currently, 67% of disciplines posting a change this year are showing an increase. Last year, the opposite was true, as 63% of disciplines indicating a change to staring salary offers were projecting them to be decreases.

Among the disciplines in the report, business majors fared the best; their average offer rose almost 2% to $48,089. Accounting majors saw their average salary offer rise 2.2% to $49,022, and the average offer to finance majors rose 1.9% to $50,535. Business administration/ management graduates saw a slight decrease to their average starting salary offer, which fell 2.3% to $44,171. Meanwhile, the average offer to marketing majors dipped by 1.3% to $41,948.

Among the technical disciplines, computer science majors posted a small increase; their average salary offer rose almost 1% to $61,783.

Salary offers to engineering graduates as a group remained nearly level: a 0.3% increase to $59,435: but some of the individual majors fared far better. Electrical engineering majors saw their average salary offer jump 4.4 %to $61,690, while mechanical engineering graduates also saw a healthy increase: 3.8%: for an average salary offer of $60,598.

Conversely, chemical engineering and civil engineering majors saw their average salary offers fall. The average offer to chemical engineering graduates dipped by 0.8% to $64,641. Meanwhile, civil engineers fared worst among their engineering peers; their average offer dropped 7.1% to $48,885.

Data are limited for liberal arts majors, but, as a group, their average offer is up 9.5% to $35,633. This is in sharp contrast to last year, when they watched their average offer fall almost 11%.

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