On both the salary and employment fronts, findings from a new survey of college graduates should be good news for those in a corporate communications department or at an agency.
Ohio State University's 1996 Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates concludes that more bachelor-degree graduates (in journalism and communications) continue to take communications/PR jobs and they're racking up better salaries than those in other disciplines such as TV and radio.
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'92 | '93 | '94 | '95 | '96 |
| Full-time work | 68.4% | 69.7% | 69.9% | 73% | 73% |
| Part-time work | 12.9 | 9.8 | 8.9 | 7.2 | 7.4 |
| Continuing school | 4.4 | 6.8 | 6.1 | 6.2 | 10 |
| Unemployed | 14.4 | 13.8 | 15.1 | 13.6 | 9.5 |
| (No. of Grads) | 459 | 458 | 397 | 419 | 419 |
The average salary for those working in PR was $23,000 for 1996, according to the study, which is based on data from 93 schools (drawn from 449 entries of four-year programs in the U.S., including Puerto Rico). Salaries offered by other major communications employers fell below that: 1996 salaries at daily newspapers came in at $20,800; for weekly newspapers, $18,200; for radio, $18,000; for TV, $18,000; and for advertising, $22,000.
In addition to the salary statistics, the study also points out that the percentage of four-year graduates venturing into PR (for both agency and corporate positions) jumped over last year's figures.
Twenty-three percent - a leap from 20.4% last year - accepted jobs with PR agencies; and 25.9%, an increase from 22% last year, took positions with PR departments.
But those numbers, too, rose for graduates looking for jobs in print and broadcast:
In 1996, 22.3% earned jobs with daily newspapers (up from 19.2% for the year prior) and 12.2% claimed jobs at weeklies (up from 11.8% for the year prior); and 15.7% (up from 14.7% in 1995) became staffers at radio stations.
(Ohio State, 614/292-6291)