IT Grads Seeing Higher Salaries

The job market is looking a little brighter for college graduates this spring, particularly for those with information technology degrees, Dice.com reports.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, employers expect to hire 5.3 percent more new college graduates in 2009 and 2010 than they did the previous year. Nearly one-quarter of 2010 graduates who applied for a job actually have one waiting for them after graduation, NACE found.

Though many graduates will receive lower starting salaries, IT graduates are seeing higher offers, NACE found. For example, graduates earning computer-related degrees saw their average salary offer rise 5.8 percent to $58,746. The average offer to computer science majors has increased 4.7 percent to $60,426, and computer engineering grads saw an average offer increase of 0.2 percent to $61,121, according to NACE.

The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service estimates that federal agencies will need to hire approximately 11,549 IT workers during the next three years, in part to replace retiring baby boomers and those leaving federal service for other reasons. But can the government's rigid pay scales compete with the hefty salaries many IT graduates are receiving in the private sector?