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Despite Talk of Softening Economy, New College Grads See Gains in Stalling Salary Offers BETHLEHEM, PA — Despite talk of softening in the economy, a new salary offer report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) shows that graduates in many fields are getting higher starting salary offers than they did last year. The Winter 2001 Salary Survey shows that nearly all disciplines posted gains, albeit generally modest ones, in their starting salary offers. "What is different is the tenor of the competition. We’ve become accustomed to competition running at a fevered pitch rather than gathering steam over the course of the year, and used to the idea that starting salaries for all types of graduates increase by leaps and bounds instead of moving upward at a steady pace. The Winter 2001 issue of Salary Survey represents a return to ‘the norm’. Traditionally, the first salary report of the year has included modest increases as employers keep careful watch on their work force needs and the growth of their organizations," says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. "Modest" describes the salary increases afforded accounting and business administra tion graduates. Accounting grads now average $38,739, a'3.8 percent increase, and the average offer to business administration grads nudged up just 1.3.percent to $36,314. Entry level management positions, with an average salary of $33,896, account for a hefty number of offers to business administration grads. Economics/finance and MIS graduates both got a nice bump up in their average offers. Economics/finance grads are now being offered $40,297, on average, for their first job out of school; that's a 5.7 increase over last year. For those being pursued by investment banking firms, that average salary is signifi cantly higher—$49,741. Interest from computer systems design/consulting firms, communications com panies, and consulting firms helped drive up the average offer to MIS graduates by 4.7 per cent to $44,879. Data are scarce for liberal arts gradu ates, as is typical at this time of year, but it appears that psychology grads are off to a good start. Their average offer is up 4.8 per cent to $28,429. In the technical disciplines, there is more evidence of competition, and average starting salary offers in some engineering fields are up substantially. Computer engineering grads are now averaging $53,443—a 14.3 percent increase. Low supply and high demand continue to favor these graduates. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of bachelor's degree conferred in computer engineering fell from just 3,440 in 1993-94 to 3,115 in 1997-98. The majority of their offers were for software design jobs, with an average starting salary of $53,943, followed by hardware design positions (average salary offer: $58,129). Civil engineering grads were also among those who made substantial gains. Their average offer rose 9.2 percent to $39,852. Engineering services firms showed the most interest in these grads, but those lucky enough to receive offers from building, developing, and general contracting compa nies saw an even higher average of $43,846. A 6.6 percent increase pushed electri cal engineering grads past the $50,000 mark; they now average $50,850. The majority of their offers were for hardware design positions, where some were offered $55,000 or more to start. Mechanical engineering grads jumped 5.8 percent over last year to an average of $48,340. Many of them will be employed as design, project, or manufacturing engineers. The average offer to computer science majors increased 5.9 percent to $51,581. They enjoy a range of opportunities, although consulting, software design, computer pro gramming, and systems analysis/design jobs top their list. Interestingly, information sciences grads, who were a favorite with employers last year, saw their average offer dip 1 percent to $44,251. The decrease may represent nothing more than a statistical blip, however. In fact, communications companies expressed the most interest in IS graduates, and offered an average salary of $47,583—10.8 percent higher than the salary these employers offered IS grads last year. 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 nation wide. Salary Survey is issued in Winter (February), Spring (April), Summer (July), and Fall (September), with the Fall issue serving as the year-end report. Since 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has been the leading source of information about the employment of college graduates. NACE main tains a virtual press room for the media at http://www.naceweb.org/press/.