Consumer magazines offered the lowest median starting salaries to people who got bachelor’s degrees in journalism in 2013, the University of Georgia’s Grady College says in its latest annual survey of grads.
Salaries reported by grads in magazines “were $5,000 lower than a year before,” the study says.
Usually graduates in that industry segment report much stronger salaries, with graduates in 2012 reporting a median salary of $30,000. There has been no growth in median salaries reported by those with full-time jobs in the magazine industry since 2009, indicating a softness in that part of the job market.
The northeastern United States offered the highest median salaries for 2013 grads: $35,000 compared with $32,000 in other parts of the country.
Over all, starting salaries for people with undergraduate degrees have gone up about $100 since 1987, using 1985 dollars. Master’s degree recipients “were earning $1,800 less than in 1989,” when calculated with 1985 dollars, the report says.
At daily newspapers, median starting salaries went down when calculated in 1985 dollars: A grad made $13,700 in 1986, and $13,400 in 2013. (The nominal median starting salary at a daily was $29,600 in 2013, the survey says.)
The percentage of grads who wished they’d chosen another career ticked up very slightly in 2013: 27.8 percent expressed regrets in this survey, compared with 27.7 percent the year before.
Poynter’s eternal series on journopay: Study finds more than a quarter of journalism grads wish they’d chosen another career | Starting salary for j-school grads rises to $41K, on average | Why an ‘average’ journalism grad’s salary might not be an average salary where you work | Are journalism grads really earning starting salaries of $41k? | Gov. stats: Median salary for reporters $35K, $52K for editors | Reporters make 8 percent less than typical Americans (or maybe they make more) | Reporters: Move to Georgia, avoid Nebraska |Study: J-school grads’ unemployment rate better than average
