Salaries up for recent college grads
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Jeremy Hobson: I was able to dig up a little piece of good news this morning. The Labor Department reports June employment numbers. I’m not sure those are going to be great, but the good news is for those who have jobs, especially those fresh out of college. Jeremy Hobson has more.
Jeremy Hobson: A survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found starting salaries among recent college grads jumped 7 percent on average over last year. The increases were across the board, with computer science degrees yielding the best one: 13 percent.
Here’s the association’s Andrea Koncz:
Andrea Koncz: The only area where salaries actually remained level were the education degrees. There weren’t actually any that decreased at all.
Daniel Hamermesh, a labor economist at the University of Texas-Austin, says that’s because the biggest losers in recessions are those who don’t have college degrees.
Daniel Hamermesh: The question is how many jobs are there out there, and I think we are not in as good a shape as we were the last couple of years, despite the fact that those who are getting jobs are doing pretty well.
And Hamermesh says if the downturn lasts, even those who are seeing salary increases this year will feel the pinch before long.
In Washington, I’m Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.
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