As a whole, this year’s crop of college graduates is expected to find more jobs and better salaries compared with counterparts a year ago, according to a recent survey of hiring managers.
In the survey, conducted in March by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, U.S. employers said they expected to hire 19.2 percent more new college graduates this year than they did in 2005-06. Nearly two-thirds of the responding companies said they expected to hire more college graduates this year than in 2005-06.
Yet some economists note that job growth has slowed lately, including the pace of hiring in Colorado.
So despite the survey’s results, some recent graduates are likely to spend weeks or months looking for work, said Tucker Hart Adams, an economist with U.S. Bank Colorado.
She pointed to the fact that job growth in Colorado was just 2.1 percent this year through March. Nationally, a total of 88,000 jobs were created in April, fewer than what analysts expected.
“That is way below what the U.S. needs,” Adams said.
Even so, the nation’s unemployment rate of 4.5 percent is still relatively low, said John Challenger, chief executive of recruitment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in Chicago. The unemployment rate for skilled workers, those with an undergraduate degree or better, is below 2 percent, he said. As a result, Challenger said, the most qualified graduates “have much more negotiating power and value than in recent years.”
The association’s survey also predicted higher salaries for recent graduates in 26 out of 29 college majors.
Marketing graduates, the survey said, would experience the biggest salary jump, up 10.3 percent to an average of $41,285. Accounting students, who have seen significant salary jumps in recent years as demand for the profession has surged amid tighter regulatory standards, are expected to receive a smaller bump, up 2.7 percent to $47,421.
Engineering and computer-science graduates will see modest salary bumps, with average pay topping $52,000 for both professions, according to the survey. In 2006, computer-science graduates saw their average salary offers decrease.
Chemical engineering graduates can expect average salaries to climb by 5.6 percent to $59,707, while pay for civil engineers is expected to increase by 4.8 percent to $47,750.
Salaries for mechanical engineers are expected to rise by 5.7 percent to $54,695, in part because of strong demand from aerospace-related companies, according to the survey.
“There are fewer grads going into our business, so that makes it hard to find the right match,” said Roz Brown, a spokeswoman for Ball Aerospace. “We are always looking for fresh people and ideas.”
The colleges and employers’ association, a nonprofit based in Bethlehem, Pa., based its findings on an e-mail survey of employers in late March.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-954-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
