Salary Offers Rise for Class of 2011

The overall average salary offer to Class of 2011 graduates has risen 6 percent over last year’s average, according to a survey published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s Fall 2011 Salary Survey report shows the overall average salary offer to a bachelor’s degree graduate rose from $48,288 for the Class of 2010 to $51,171 for the Class of 2011.

Graduates earning business degrees saw their overall average salary rise 4.6 percent above the September 2010 average: from $46,672 to $48,805.

Offers to business administration/management graduates jumped 5.4 percent to $46,372. Both economics and finance graduates saw their average salary offers increase. The average salary offer for economics graduates rose 3.9 percent to $53,690, while the average salary offer for finance majors grew by 4.8 percent to $51,503.

As a group, those earning computer-related degrees saw their overall average salary soar 9.6 percent from $58,189 to $63,760. The overall average offer for those majoring specifically in computer science jumped 9.3 percent to $66,084, while information sciences and systems majors saw their average salary offer increase by 5.9 percent to $55,619.

The average salary offer to engineering majors as a group rose 2.8 percent over last year’s average, from $58,669, to $60,291. The average salary offer to petroleum engineering graduates grew 7.1 percent to $82,740, making it the highest-paid major in the NACE report.

Also ranking on the highest-paid list, chemical engineering graduates saw their average salary offer increase 1.8 percent to $66,058. Computer engineering graduates posted a healthy 4.1 percent increase to their average salary offer, bringing it to $62,849.

For the full report: http://www.naceweb.org/research/salary_survey/