People who graduate from college this year will have a harder time landing a job than in the past few years. And those who do score jobs will be offered less money than if they had taken the same job a year earlier, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
In two surveys published last month, NACE asked employers to compare the number of new college grads they hired in 2001-2002 to those they expect to hire in 2002-2003. Overall, respondents across the nation said they expect to hire 3.6 percent fewer new grads.
And the local regional is about three times worse than the national average. NACE surveyed 19 firms from the manufacturing, government nonprofit and service industries in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Collectively, they said they plan to hire 9.1 percent fewer new grads this year.
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“The cutback in those three states is significantly higher than the overall average. We’re looking at a 9.1 percent decrease in the number of firms who expect to hire as many college graduates as they did last year,” said Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information manager.
Among the 19 firms surveyed, 42.1 percent said they plan to maintain their rate of hiring new staff; 31.6 said they plan to cutback on new hiring, and 26.3 said they plan to hire more entry level employers this year than they did last year.
Of the 19 firms surveyed in NACE’s “Job Outlook Fall Preview,” two firms said they were expecting large staff reductions. Both companies are in the service industry, said Luckenbaugh.
College grads who do find an entry level job this year or next shouldn’t expect to make as much money out of the gate as they would have if they had graduated last year, according to Luckenbaugh. Across the nation, starting salaries have fallen as demand for 2002 college graduates has waned. The organization’s “Fall 2002 Salary Survey” shows that within the business disciplines, all majors, except actuarial grads, saw their average starting salary offer fall.
In general, graduates in the business, engineering, and education fields have the best chance of making as much money as their counterparts who graduated a year ago. Graduates this year with liberal arts degrees stand much less chance of making the same money as they would have a year or two ago, according to the survey.
Among those who saw their average offer fall, accounting grads did best —their average offer fell just 0.6 percent from 2001 to $39,494. Although the average offer to management information systems grads fell 8.8 percent, their average offer was $42,524 – making them the second highest paid among the business fields.
Economics/finance graduates, now averaging $39,961, saw a drop of 2 percent. Actuarial grads bucked the trend, and their average offer rose 5.2 percent to $46,393. Engineering graduates also have felt the effects of the sluggish economy as many of them have been offered lower salaries, as well. The average offer to computer engineering graduates dropped 4.7 percent, lowering their average to $51,135. Chemical engineering graduates, not hit quite as hard, now average $51,137, a 0.2 percent decrease.
“Last year’s college grads experienced a difficult time in their job search, and it looks like this year will also be challenging,” Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director, said in a written statement. “The Class of 2003 is going to face a lot of competition for jobs. Now, more than ever, students need to use all the resources available to them, particularly their campus career center, where they’ll get expert guidance in conducting a successful job search.”
Nationally, employers in the government/nonprofit sector project the best outlook; they plan to maintain their college hiring at last year’s levels. Service employers, however, expect to hire 2.4 percent fewer new college graduates this year. Nationally, the outlook is worst among manufacturers, who project a 6 percent drop in their number of new college hires.
Electrical engineering grads weren’t so lucky: Their average offer dropped off 3.3 percent to $50,391. Just a few years ago, computer science grads had their pick of jobs; 2002 computer science grads, however, saw demand wane, with starting salary offers declining 5.8 percent for an average of $49,413. Still, some computer science grads did very well: Those with jobs in software design and development got an average offer of $53,524.
Information sciences graduates also saw demand fall off, and their average offer dropped 8.5 percent to $41,375.
Average starting salary offers fell below $30,000 for many liberal arts disciplines. Political science graduates, for example, watched as their average salary offer plummeted 12.6 percent from 2001 figures to $28,546. Similarly, psychology graduates saw their average drop 10.7 percent; they now average $26,738. English majors also saw a decrease in their salary offers; their average offer fell 8.3 percent to $28,438. History majors finished the year on a more positive note. Their average offer – $30,395 – reflects a small increase of 0.7 percent.
The Salary Survey is a quarterly report of starting salary offers to new college graduates in 70 disciplines at the bachelor’s degree level. The survey compiles data from college and university career services offices nationwide. The fall issue serves as the year-end report.
NACE e-mailed its “Job Outlook Fall Preview Survey” to 1,291 employer members in August; 347, or 26.9 percent, responded. By type of employer, 48.4 percent are service-sector employers, 39.8 percent are manufacturers, and 9.8 percent are government/nonprofit employers. An additional 2 percent could not be classified by sector.
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