Job Market Improving For Recent College Grads, But Pay Is Not

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Recent college graduates are more likely to find work since the end of the Great Recession, but pay is not yet increasing.

New college graduates are finding it easier to land their first job  — and unemployment rates are dropping for most degree holders.

But paychecks are still getting smaller for most recent grads, according to a study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

The study shows that unemployment was down for nearly every category of majors in 2012, the only exception being communications and journalism.

Science and engineering grads had the lowest unemployment rate — most around five percent.

Architecture and social sciences had the highest unemployment rates — around 10 percent. Those rates are almost the same as for experienced workers with just a high school diploma.

But while the job market is recovering from the Great Recession, salaries are not. The Georgetown researchers say pay won’t fully recover from the recession until 2017.

The lowest earnings were reported by recent graduates with degrees in education, social work and the arts.

This is the third year the researchers have tracked new college grad employment. You can read the study here.

Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce.

This chart shows graduate earnings by field of study.

Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce

This chart shows unemployment rates by field of study.