Salaries for Recent Graduates
I was reading an article on MSN Careers, titled “What the Class of 2009 Will Earn.” The article discussed how the current economy is affecting students who are graduating this year and listed the following 2009 starting salaries secured by a few recent grads:
- Pharmacy Technician in FL: $23,000
- TV News Reporter in NY: $25,500
- Ad-agency Employee in NC: $28,000
- 1st Lt in Army w/ Finance Specialization in NC: $36,900
- Crime Investigator in GA: $40,000
- Social Worker in MS: $45,800
I don’t know about you all, but I think that Social Worker in Mississippi overstated her starting salary. A four year liberal arts degree in a southern state? Nah, I aint buying it! Maybe she included the value of her benefits and perks in the total. Who knows. *shrug*
Anyhoo, the article goes on to state…
To date, the average job offer to a 2009 graduate with a bachelor’s degree is $48,515, down about 2 percent from last year, according to NACE. (Parents who got their first jobs in the early 1980s had it slightly better. The average job offer for the Class of 1982 was $22,450 — or, adjusted for inflation, $49,485).
I think these “average” numbers are also grossly inflated. I know there are some exceptions, especially in IT related or highly specialized fields. But if $48,500 is the “average” salary for a 21 year old fresh out of school, then why is the median household income in the entire US of A only $50,740? Yea, riddle me that.
Assuming the recent grad has a related degree for his/her chosen career field and ZERO work experience, maybe a few internships, I find it very hard to believe that an employer pays ~$50k – on “average” – out the gate. Maybe the outliers in IT and highly specialized career fields are skewing the data. Stats can be manipulated to support whatever conclusion you want to present. In my opinion, these articles give recent grads unrealistic expectations of the workforce.
And finally, this piece of the article was interesting as well…
In specific fields of study, NACE found that the average job offer was $58,438 for engineering students; $57,693 for computer science students; $46,973 for business students; and $36,807 for liberal arts students.
Hmm…when I was a young lad, my first job out of college paid a salary of ~$32,000. After accounting for inflation, this is ~$37,900 in 2009 dollars – no where near the “average” of ~$46,900! Although my career has taken off and my salary has quadrupled since then, I’d like to think I was fairly compensated with only a 4 year Business degree and no relevant experience.
Am I off base here? Is this article accurate?
Compared to some of you, was I underpaid as a new grad?
Better yet, let’s get some REAL data. How much did YOU earn fresh out of school?
Comment anonymously if you prefer.
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I was a social work major and my first job was at a non-profit. I earned $23,000. This was 6 years ago.
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I earned 30k for an entry level ad-agency position in NY 8 years ago. Considering the state of the industry right now, $29k seems pretty accurate.
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I earned $35K in early ‘99 as an associate at a regional CPA firm after graduation.
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I earned 27,500 as a marketing coordinator in NYC in 2004. (I was severely underpaid and didn’t realize it for a long time–the person who was hired after I left in 2006 started at 34,000.)
I still think ~$30,000 seems accurate as an average of all jobs. I’d be so thankful to have ANY job if I were just getting out of school right now. Yikes.
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Started at a lobbying/pr firm in Fall ‘04 – $28,000. I work in our state capital, and that number is right in line with state employees’ starting wage.
I have an intern now who is going on job interviews asking for $35k. I tried telling her nicely that there wasn’t a snowball’s chance she was going to get it. She disagrees. Maybe I should have laughed in her face instead.
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I started at $40,000 in 2006 (I was halfway through my MA at that point, and had graduated in 2005 with a liberal arts BA) in research/writing related job for a museum exhibit design firm, and got bumped up to $45,000 after a year/after I finished the MA. Again, with a humanities degree. It was NYC, but I still felt pretty darn lucky.
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I think the numbers in this article totally sound inflated! I could skew the results in the other direction with my first starting salary – $10,000 in Boston in 2003! (But, I did Americorps, ha ha!) My first “real” job after Americorps was as an office assistant for $27,000, also in Boston. I think the $30k average is more accurate.
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I made $44000 after I graduated with a Master’s in Public Policy (working for the govt, in Canada…but still) and then a year later made $61000 (when they hired me on full time). This is how they suck you in – great pay, pension, benefits…
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I made $44000 after I graduated with a Master’s in Public Policy (working for the govt, in Canada…but still) and then a year later made $61000 (when they hired me on full time). This is how they suck you in – great pay, pension, benefits…
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My first job out of college was a temp turned permanent position of Admin Assistant at a mid-size firm. The salary was 33k and that was in 2005. At that time I interviewed for a lot of entry level IT jobs which mostly were in the 30-40k range. This was in the Philly area.
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I graduated with a hard science degree and made $40k out of school in a slightly specialized field.
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oops, should have said it was 2006
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I made $32,000 at a large financial services firm in Boston when I graduated in 2004 with an undergrad degree in economics. The raise after one year with a glowing review from my manager bumped me up to $32.571. I left. Five years later I was making $50,000 in Florida until I was recently laid off.
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I graduated with a Bachelor’s in FInance in and my starting salary was 35,000 in 2006. a year and a half later, it moved to 38,000 and six months later to 44,000 after threatning to quit after I found out a new employee (whose only advantage on me was language) was making more than me..I’m now @ 47,000 after a recent raise and going through the process of negotiating again….
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OH – and the countr I live doesn’t have income tax.
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Earned 48,000 in 2005 with a masters in engineering.. I guess I was not earning what I should have.
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The difference between the new graduate stats and the average household stats is the mean/median difference. The mean household income might be a lot higher than the median.
Also – I graduated in 2007 with a science degree and got about $34,500 as a starting salary (adjusted to 2009 dollars, it was really about 33,000) My fiancee has a computer degree and got $40,000 in 2008 when he graduated, which according to the online calculator is actually $39,600 in 2009 dollars – interesting that it went down.
All of my friends make between $29,000 and $45,000
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I graduated in 1994 with a starting salary of $29,500 at a major CPA firm (it was the big 6 back then). But I can confirm that most entry-level accountants were commanding around mid-40’s about 2 years ago when I was recruiting for my company.
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Oh and I can’t remember when you graduated so I don’t know if you were underpaid. I do know that I was getting the average when I graduated – it seems so little 15 years later, but I was ecstatic when I got that offer letter, LOL.
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My first year job out of undergrad (2002) I was as a public school teacher, I made 34K. My health benefits were free (My co-pay was 5$) This was in Maryland. I think that social workin in MS must have an MSW and be licensed.
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I earned $20,000 fresh out of college. That was back in the 90s
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I graduated with a biology degree (and lab experience) in 2003. I was looking at lab tech jobs in Boston that offered around $27,000-32,000. I went into teaching for three years.
I now have a master’s in my field (educational media) and make just under $50,000 (still in Boston). I am only 28, but I feel underpaid when I see the national median incomes for over 25 with master’s degrees…
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Fresh out of College, I made $42,000 with a Liberal Arts Degree (Poli Sci).It wasn’t that long ago either. I will admit it was unusual bc my other classmates weren’t so lucky. I think location and networking played a role though.
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I started out teaching after I graduated in 2006 at $41000. This year, my base salary as a teacher is $48, 179. Next year my salary will go up to $53, 286 because I have a Masters degree. Next year it will go up again because I am working on a second masters degree. I feel pretty blessed!
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Hmm… the comments on this blog make me feel slightly better about my (seeming low to me) salary. Well, my comment was too long for the comment section so I decided to post on this blog. I negotiated my first salary, then ended up job hopping, then took a pay cut… and then 2 raises in one year…. Here’s my story:
http://memyselfandmoney.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/my-salary-journey/
I look forward to any and all feedback that you or your readers may habve.
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My first job out of college (in the early 90s), I made about $32K base and another $5K or so bonus with an undergraduate non-science degree.
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Slightly over 60,000 in NJ as a nurse.
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I graduated in 2007 with a BA in Business and Communication – my starting salary was $42K (with bonuses) and the only reason I made that much is because I was an intern (ahem unpaid) at my company when they created a Marketing Associate position. The company was looking for someone with 3-5 years experience but because I proved myself as an intern they brought me on.
Most of my classmates had starting salaries in the low $30s with the exception of the accounting people who went to one of the Big 4 firms…they all made upwards of $50K
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Hi Single Ma,
Interesting post.
I also would like to congratulate you.
From your statement $32,000 then = $37,900 now (inflation adjusted)
I take it you graduated in 2002. Since your salary quadrupled since then,
your average nominal annual salary increase is something like: 4^(1/7)-1 = 22%
(of course it has probably come in bursts according to promotion events).
I can tell you that this rate of increase is most definetly several standard
deviations above the average rate of increase in nominal salary.
So congratulations to your phenomenal success!
Thomas
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The median income probably takes into account all salaries in the US (including non-college grads), who make less money than their 4-year college counterparts. The salary stats you quote are just for college grads. It’s not exactly a fair comparison.
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My first job out of undergrad was 40k. Accounting degree, big ten university, 3 internships on my resume AND the job was in Boise, Idaho. The next job 9 months later paid $46,500 and that was in central PA (Harrisburg area). These were both entry level staff accountant positions and I graduated in 2005.
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My first job out of college (this was 2002) was a Finance position with a salary of $25K. I had a bachelors degree (BA) in Political Science but I had three years (winters and summers during college) of Finance work experience. I thought it was low at the time but I needed a job with benefits!!
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It appears that most of the comments so far are from younger people. I’m older than you (mid 40s) and my first job out of college was in the late 80s to the tune of $18,000. I accepted this because at the time the position I really wanted (an editorial position at a newspaper) was only offering $13,000. Writers and editors in general don’t make a lot of money, and particularly not fresh out of school, but $13,000? Come on now. I had to live…so to me $18,000 was decent. Thankfully through a series of career moves and promotions my salary has literally quadrupled over the last two decades.
Career counselors and experts all over the nation are now encouraging students to choose higher paying fields to study in college, particularly if student loans are being used. I think that’s great advice.
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I think those with technical or law degrees as well as those in HCOL areas are skewing the average. My lawyer friends made upper $90s at their first jobs in 1999/2000. I was an engineering major and was offered lower to mid $40s (depending on location) in 1997.
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35k, with a 2 yr college diploma (“associate degree”), as a web designer in 1999. That skyrocketed in the next couple years. I just had to have some good professional experience under my belt, as we all do I guess.
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I was EEng, graduated at the end of 1999 and started at $46K. I wish my salary had doubled or tripled by now. I need to make some changes asap!
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I think the reason you can have a college grad with an average starting salary of $48,500, but an average family income of $50,740 is because college graduates make up less than 30% of the total population in the US. If the majority of society does not have a college degree and earns considerably less than the starting salary of a college grad then that would be the reason for the discrepancy.
I made $35,000 as a starting salary as a paralegal with a large law firm in DC with a B.A. in history in 2004. This was way more than my friends who worked at non-profits made, but I still felt broke.
My husband’s starting salary was $56,000 with a B.S. in software engineering in 2003. He did not feel broke.
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My first (real) job out of college paid $19,500 (1989). I thought I had hit the jackpot!!!
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My first job out of college as a Computer Engineer (going into a more IT related position) was $50K and full covered medical benefits. I’ve moved on since then, but it was a nice job and I miss working with so many people closer to my age. I’m still in IT but at a company that is significantly bigger and has more of the “old guard”. I miss the progressive attitudes of my first job – but not the management!
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32k, as a paralegal in Phoenix in 2004.
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Oh, that was in 2004 for me too.
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Holy McMoly! My first job as a Project Manager, after completing an MBA, in 2006, was $45k in North Carolina. How are business undergrads making that kind of money right out of school?!
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I graduated with a bachelors in science in electrical engineering in 1995. I had a year and a half of intership experience and started at $40,000 a year.
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Well, personally I feel as a recent grad you should make at least 50K or more if your going into a private industry such as accounting. If your going to be working for the government, the pay will start out low but increase dramatically over time. Just take a look at the GS pay scale. Remember most govt employees get there next grade level every six months to a year depending on the agency. I graduated from Howard University in 07 with my BBA in Accounting. I interned with two of the Big Four Public Accounting Firms in DC. Both companies at the time paid interns based off a 50k salary or more depending on your experience. When I recieved my first offer it was for 50K plus a 5K bounus and increased to 55K with the same bounus; however, because of the economy they wanted to start entry level employees at 50K and make difference up along the way.
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I think those numbers are realistic IMHO. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering 2006 and my starting salary was $78K not including an additional 10% bonus. I went in and discovered I was making more than some of the senior engineers that I worked with in my group. I had friends who graduated in 2006 and got paid around $62-65K, and those who were as high as $85K. It all depended on how much the company wanted you.
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In 1999 I graduated with a BA in sociology, followed by 6 months of training to be a police officer (certificate program since I already had a degree). In September 1999, I secured a sworn peace officer position in a Minneapolis suburb, starting salary was $42,000. Crappy benefits, but decent base salary. Similar jobs in rural Minnesota pay about half that.
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Hm, with a lib arts degree, I made 29,500 out the gate in 2004. My peers were making 40K with comp sci degrees, and another had offers in the 50-60K range with a dietetics degree in 2005. I definitely felt like a bit of a loser at the time.
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I think that $45k for a social worker is very overstated, especially in Mississippi. I think the average pay for a social worker here in the Atlanta area is only in the low $30s.
My first job out of college 9 years ago, my starting salary was $33k. I’m still with the same company and my salary has doubled.
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Graduated w/an IT degree in 2007 and started off @ 53K in DC.
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2005 Masters in Public Administration starting salary of $42,000
2008 Masters in Electrical Engineering (my higher earning half :) $68,500 but we had offers for $45,000 and $62,000 also. We laughed at the recruiting offer of $45,000 although it was much higher than my starting salary was.
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I graduated fall 2k7 with a BS in Accounting/Finance. My starting salary was 56k at a large tech consulting company.
Most of my friends that graduated with BS in Business Admin/Marketing/ or similar fields had starting salaries in the mid 50k range. They graduated in late 2007, all the way up to 2009. Most of these numbers come from larger firms — finance, accounting, and consulting.
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I finished my degree (BA in Accounting & Bus Admin) in Dec 2005 and started at $40k + 10% bonus working as a Staff Accountant in the corporate world. I’ve been promoted twice and am now making $58k + 15% bonus as Accounting Manager for the same company (finance corp of a manufacturing company). Would have made more in the Public realm, but interned with the company I’m at now and really liked the people. Most of my accounting buddies that went into Public were offered starting salaries in the mid 50’s with the Big 4.
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Wow, TW- that is pretty good salary for starting in the industry, excellent I must say.
I graduated in 1997 with BS in accounting, started with $28K working for private tour operator.
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I graduated with a law degree in 2004 and earned $125,000. I wonder if the “average” numbers are for those with undergraduate degrees only and not with graduate degrees?
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I live in Mississippi. 45,000 isn’t a lot of money, even in a southern state. Actually, educated people in the south live very well, even in Mississippi.
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I live in Mississippi. 45,000 isn’t a lot of money, even in a southern state. Actually, educated people in the south live very well, even in Mississippi.
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My first job out of college (graphic designer in Los Angeles-2007) paid 40k
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1998, BS Accounting, did not pursue CPA, Staff Accountant for privately owned manufacturing firm in suburban midwest, 30.5k, up to 41k 4 yrs later when went to PT mommy-track and then left a few yrs later
The hubby – 1994, MIS, Programmer-Anaylst w/ large insurance firm, 31.5k, has almost tripled in 15 yrs w/ 6 job changes and Masters in CS
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I got my first full-time job in August of 2007 (had been with a summer job until I found a full-time position somewhere), and starting salary was $27,500. One year later, my boss gave me a raise to $33,500 after a review.
I am working for a small-business, doing administrative work and junior book-keeping as required, but had zero experience with any of it – my degree was in English, and I had to market the skills I had developed through volunteering in my residence as an events coordinator as that did provide me with a skill-set I could make use of in this job.
Compared to my friends, many are earning less than me but a significant portion of them are not getting anything better than a retail type job. So much for the Bachelor of Arts degrees… However, friends who had experience with HR or marketing in school manged to get in with good places and make considerably more than me.
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“…when I was a young lad” — SingleMa, is there something we don’t know about you? :)
My first job right after graduation was a job I’d had in college, paying around $11 an hour, which was great for 20 years ago. But my next job after that, which led to my current career, only paid $5.75 an hour. Fortunately I only did that for about a month before being promoted to a whopping salary of $19,000!
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Not really surprising. While fewer students had jobs this year due to the economy, the average salary was approximately $52,000. This is pretty consistent with years past. *shurgs* You’re right, and average can be highly skewed for any number of reason including geography and population. For example, there are some finance companies that only recruit from a select group of institutions which skews the average salary for students from those schools. The art major earning $16K is thrown right in with the economics majors earning $80k, averaging out for a nice $48K. Guess the only person’s salary I am really concerned about is my own. My first corporate job offer is for $39K+$5K raise after successful completion of six months of training. I guess it is what is is.
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My first job straight out of undergrad paid a salary of $57K per year in 2000. I was a business major.
I live in the San Francisco area so location, probably has something to do with my salary being higher than average since the cost of living is relatively higher.
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My first job straight out of undergrad paid a salary of $57K per year in 2000. I was a business major.
I live in the San Francisco area so location has something to do with my salary being higher than average since the cost of living is relatively higher.
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2005 graduate in communications. I had an internship which paid $10 an hour for the first 3 months after graduation, then found a full time job at a consulting firm that started at $40k, then $42k after 6 months.
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I made $48,000 working for a CPA firm in Alaska (started June 2008) with 4 weeks paid vacation and full dental, medical, and vision. 401(k) benefits kick in after a year. I can’t remember what the match was, but it was pretty good.
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Oh yeah, and I got bumped up to $52,000 after 6 months.
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My first job as salesman in a bank in 2003 payed ~5k $ a year pre-tax (~3,5k $ after tax). I had master’s in political science and was half way through to master’s in law Ok, I admit I’m not from US. I’m from Poland and everything is slightly cheaper around here. But not THAT cheaper (and some things like electronics or gas are actually more expensive). Fast forward six years – now I have master’s in political science and law, experience in banking and IT, and I work as a middle tier manager in transport&logistics company earning ~ 17k$ a year pre-tax.
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This makes me ill… I’m a first year attorney [graduated law school in 2008] and working in NYC making $50,000/year. That’s sad… A JD gets me THAT?!
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With a BA in psychology in 1984: I got almost $50/day as a teacher’s aide. That’s about $10,000/year for a 9-month job. That’s about $20,000/year in today’s money.
With an MA in sociology, I got a job as a typist. I can’t remember how I started but I do know I still wasn’t quite making 20K when I bought my house in 1996, so that’s not quite 26K in today’s dollars.
The problem is I insist on being in education and having a low-stress job. Even now, in a job that actually requires my master’s and with 18 years experience with the same employer I’m still making 42K, but I have good benefits and can retire in 6 years with a pension.
I always feel like a (huge, HUGE) loser when I compare my salary to that of others (virtually all my friends work in high tech or programming!), but I’m good at being frugal so it works out.
Here’s another data point for you, Single Ma: The starting salary for programmers at my employer (which requires a degree) is 40K.
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Mechanical Engineer (BSME), 2006, working for a large Midwestern manufacturing company. Started at 52k base, twice-yearly bonus plus OT. Work 55-60 hour weeks on average. Great benefits, 401k match, etc. Feel very fortunate to have my job, even if the hours get a little long sometimes.
I’ll join the chorus who thinks those article numbers must be total compensation (including benefits, etc.). The numbers seem a bit optimistic to me.
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I ended up as a Mortgage specialist temp in January 2009 at $12/hr, and went to full time a month ago at the same rate, so about $25,000/year. My fiance was able to find a contract job in February and he gets ~49-50K/year in IT. These article must be fake, because almost no one I graduated with in December had a job lined up.
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The social worker in MS probably has a good resume that is why she is earning that amount. MSN should have stated if those new employees have previous experiences.
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Electrical Engineering degree in 2006, I started right around $53k in a low cost area.
Starting salaries in high cost areas (where I live now) seem to be around $65,000 for new grads. It is much more difficult to get hired these days though.
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BA in biology from a v. good private school and I made $24,600 my first year out of college.
And I thought I was rich!
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Graduated in 2008 with a degree in Finance and got an entry-level job at a medium-sized financial firm in SoCal paying $33K. (Plus got 12.5% bonus for 2008.) Got a promotion 6 months later and now make $34,800. We are currently on a salary freeze and bonus freeze. But the benefits, company and people are amazing so I wouldn’t change my salary for anything right now. :)
(From what I’ve been told, my company SEVERELY underpays at the entry-to-mid-level range. I have a friend working at Target as an “Executive Team Leader” who just landed the job in May 2009 and starting at $48K. With very little mgmt experience.)
Honestly, depends on the company, degree… Have other friends making $60K in supply chain mgmt field, $50K in accounting, $42K as project manager, etc.
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Graduated in 2003 from a public college with a liberal arts degree. I managed to get a fulltime job the following January starting at 35K. That was a considerably decent salary at the time. I read the article when it came out and also found the social worker’s salary to be kinda iffy.
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Graduated in 1998 with a bs in civil engineering. First job paid 30k working for the State DOT. I remember the other engineering majors getting starting salaries in the high 30’s, low 40’s. Eleven years and 2 job changes later, I’m at 75k at a private firm in a midwestern state. And believe me when I tell you that 75k goes a long ways here!!!!
30k adjusted for inflation comes out to around 39, which is about what most State DOT’s start their entry level engineers in midsized cities.
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When I recieved my first offer it was for 50K plus a 5K bounus and increased to 55K with the same bounus; however, because of the economy they wanted to start entry level employees at 50K and make difference up along the way.
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Fresh out of college with a business degree I made $58,000 (2007) in Southern California for an aerospace firm. Perhaps it was the high living cost.
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