Starting Salaries Jump for 2011 Grads: First Increase Since 2008

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 percent over last year at this time, according to NACE’s Winter 2011 Salary Survey report.  

For the Class of 2011, this is the latest sign of improvement in the college job market. Employers responding to an earlier NACE study reported plans to increase their college hiring with the Class of 2011 by 13.5 percent over the previous year, and monthly polls conducted by NACE show hiring remains in positive territory. 

While not all categories of majors posted increases to their average salary offers, the increases seen in the Winter 2011 Salary Survey report far outweigh the decreases. That’s a significant improvement over last year at this time. Currently, 67 percent of disciplines posting a change this year are showing an increase. Last year, the opposite was true, as 63 percent of disciplines indicating a change to staring salary offers were projecting them to be decreases. 

Among the disciplines in the Winter 2011 Salary Survey report, business majors fared the best; their average offer rose almost 2 percent to $48,089. Accounting majors saw their average salary offer rise 2.2 percent to $49,022, and the average offer to finance majors rose 1.9 percent to $50,535. Business administration/ management graduates saw a slight decrease to their average starting salary offer, which fell 2.3 percent to $44,171. Meanwhile, the average offer to marketing majors dipped by 1.3 percent to $41,948.

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

Salary offers to engineering graduates as a group remained nearly level—a 0.3 percent increase to $59,435—but some of the individual majors fared far better. Electrical engineering majors saw their average salary offer jump 4.4 percent to $61,690, while mechanical engineering graduates also saw a healthy increase—3.8 percent—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 percent to $64,641. Meanwhile, civil engineers fared worst among their engineering peers; their average offer dropped 7.1 percent to $48,885.  

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