New college graduates with degrees in the business disciplines are seeing some increases in their starting salary offers, but starting salary offers for many in the technical fields continue to fall from last year's levels, according to a new report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
NACE's Spring 2003 Salary Survey shows that, among the business disciplines, business administration graduates received the highest increase. Their average salary offer stands at $36,515—3.7 percent higher than the average offer of $35,209 in Spring 2002. Many of their job offers were for sales and management trainee positions.
Accounting majors are also holding their own; their average offer rose 2.6 percent to $41,360. The majority of their offers were for public and private accounting positions, but those receiving offers in the areas of consulting and financial analysis were more likely to be offered bigger paychecks. These grads were offered, on average, $42,145 for private accounting, $42,191 for public accounting, $45,680 for consulting, and $45,761 for financial analyst positions.
Economics/finance graduates and marketing/marketing management graduates saw increases—albeit minimal ones—as well. Economics/finance majors received 1.8 percent more than last year, pushing their average offer up to $40,764, while marketing graduates received a 1.3 percent increase, raising their average offer to $35,822.
Management information systems (MIS) graduates were hit hardest among the business disciplines; their average offer dropped 5 percent, to $41,543. Although this degree is classified within the business disciplines, it contains many technical components, which may be one explanation for the decrease. A few years ago computer science majors were in demand, and their average salary offers, which increased steadily, reflected that demand. Currently, their average offer has decreased 7.6 percent to $46,536. This is the sixth consecutive report in which the average offer to computer science majors has decreased.
Information sciences and systems graduates haven't been hit as hard, but their average offer of $39,800 represents a 3.9 percent decrease from last year. Telecommunications and computer systems design firms showed the most interest in these grads, but in significantly fewer numbers than two years ago.
In NACE's Job Outlook 2003 report (released to NACE members in November 2002), 44 percent of employers targeting bachelor's degree students said they planned to keep salaries flat for 2002-03 graduates. Nowhere is this more evident than among offers to engineering students, which show little to no movement so far this year.
Civil engineers are currently receiving offers averaging $41,067, an increase of only 0.5 percent. Similarly, electrical engineering graduates now average $50,566, an increase of just 0.4 percent. The average offer to mechanical engineering graduates remains static at $48,659.
Chemical engineering graduates, posting one of the largest increases among engineers, received 1.8 percent more than last year, bumping their average up to $52,169. Chemical manufacturers, food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and petroleum manufacturers were most likely to extend offers to them.
Offers to liberal arts graduates remain slim at this point, but as a whole, this group is receiving offers of $29,543 on average—3.1 percent more than last year when they averaged $28,667. Sales, management trainee, and teaching positions were among the most common offerings to these grads.
