If you’re hiring new finance staffers straight out of college, be prepared to bump up those starting salaries, judging by the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
The NACE, which compiled data from college and university career-services offices across the country, found that this year’s accounting graduates received an average starting salary of $43,809, up 3.9 percent from last spring’s average. Graduates with business administration/management degrees received an average of $39,448, up 3.2 percent.
Salary offers to economics/finance graduates rose a healthy 5.1 percent, to an average of $42,802. The NACE noted that many of these grads were offered financial/treasury analysis positions, which averaged $44,825.
Computer science graduates — especially those who landed software design and development positions — and engineering majors fared better than business and finance grads, receiving offers averaging between $43,000 and $55,000, depending on their specialty.
As for liberal arts graduates, their average starting salary climbed a healthy 4.2 percent — to $30,337, compared with last year’s average of $29,119.