According to several of the latest NACE surveys, the outlook for employment is mixed for the Class of 2013. First, NACE reports that the 13 percent increase in job openings that had been projected in the fall of 2012 is failing to live up to expectations. Instead, the projection has flattened to about 2.1 percent. While this might worry some graduating seniors, NACE does report that employers are still hiring and that approximately 30 percent of employers say they plan to hire more grads in the fall months.
On a much brighter note, once a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree does find a job, his or her salary is likely to be about 5.3 percent higher than graduates from the Class of 2012. For college graduates, NACE found that the average starting salary went up from $44,666 last year to $44,928 this year. Naturally, those in the health sciences and business saw the largest gains, with 9.4 percent and 7.1 percent respectively. Jobs in education, engineering, math and sciences, computer science, and communications saw an increase in starting pay between 3 and 5 percent. Those in the humanities and social sciences saw the smallest increase with just 1.9 percent.