Class of 2009 Paid Less Than Class of 2008
The economy took a hit: So too did starting salary offers to new college graduates, according to a new report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
NACE’s Fall 2009 Salary Survey report shows that Class of 2009 bachelor’s degree graduates earned an average starting salary offer of $48,633–1.2 percent below the average $49,224 their Class of 2008 counterparts received.
On the surface, that decline seems small when considered in light of the changes that occurred in the economy. Moreover, more than half of all disciplines that experienced a change in salary saw those salaries increase. However, a deeper look at salaries shows there have been considerable consequences for the Class of 2009.
“In fact, year-over-year salary increases are what have come to be considered ‘the norm.’ The small decrease actually reflects a much greater loss,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.
For example, the Class of 2008 saw its average starting salary increase 7.6 percent over the average offer to Class of 2007 grads. Moreover, for the Class of 2008, 94 percent of the disciplines that experienced a change in salary saw salary increases.
The decline in salary reflects the drop in demand for new graduates, as does the decline in the number of offers reported.
“There are 20 percent fewer offers reported in the September 2009 Salary Survey than were reported in the September 2008 report–despite the fact that nearly the same number of schools reported offers for both reports,” says Mackes.
The results confirm an earlier study by NACE that found less than 20 percent of the graduating class had a job at the time of graduation.
Not surprisingly given their relatively short supply, engineering and computer science graduates saw their average salary offers increase. Graduates in the business and liberal arts disciplines–fields that boast plentiful supplies of graduates–saw their average offers fall, although the drop was less than 1 percent, suggesting that employers chose to maintain salary levels even as they trimmed their hiring rolls.
The overall average salary offer to business majors as a group fell by a mere one-tenth of 1 percent, with nearly an even split of increases and decreases posted by each of the individual disciplines. Accounting, marketing, and finance majors realized increases, while business administration/management, economics, and management information systems graduates saw their average offers fall.
The average salary offer to accounting graduates crept up by less than 1 percent to $48,471, and the overall average salary offer to marketing graduates is up 1.8 percent to $42,260. Finance majors posted a 2.1 percent increase to their average salary offer, bringing it to $49,163.
Conversely, business administration/management graduates saw their average offer fall 3.4 percent to $44,607; the average offer to economics graduates fell 2.8 percent to $49,628; and management information systems graduates saw their average salary offer dip by 1.8 percent to $50,573.
In the technical fields, graduates earning degrees in computer science saw their average offer rise just 0.6 percent to $61,467, and information sciences and systems graduates saw a 1.1 percent increase for an average offer of $52,886.
Compared to many of their peers in other disciplines, engineering graduates fared well. As a group, engineering grads saw their average offer rise 4.2 percent from $57,250 to $59,670. By specific discipline, chemical engineering graduates saw their average offer increase 3 percent to $65,675, and the average offer to mechanical engineers rose 3.9 percent to $59,222. Electrical engineering graduates posted a 5 percent increase to their average salary offer, which now stands at $60,509. All healthy increases–unless compared to jump in the average starting salary offer to petroleum engineers, which rose a whopping 13 percent to $85,417. Driving up that average: offers, ranging between $70,000 and $90,00, from petroleum and coal products manufacturers.
Average salary offers to liberal arts graduates held their ground; their average offer dropped just 0.3 percent from a $36,715 to $36,624. Overall, liberal arts grads were most likely to be offered teaching positions, which were among the top jobs for 2009 graduates.
By specific discipline in the liberal arts, there is a mix: English majors saw a 3.2 percent increase to their average salary offer, which now stands at $36,604. Political science/government majors saw a similar increase; their average offer rose 3 percent to $40,009. The average salary offer for psychology majors, up 1.4 percent, now stands at $34,573; the average offer for history majors is $38,445, just 1 percent over last year’s average. However, the average offer to sociology grads fell 3.2 percent to $34,290, while the average offer to visual and performing arts graduates dropped 2.7 percent to $34,114.
