Slightly more than 43% of employers plan to increase starting salaries to Class of 2024 bachelor’s degree graduates, and nearly all remaining employers anticipate keeping salaries at last year’s levels, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2024 report.

For Class of 2024 master’s degree graduates, 27.7% of responding employers have plans to increase salaries and 71.8% plan to keep them the same as last year.

These findings are relatively positive as the starting salaries for the Class of 2024 were set last year when there was a continued surge in hiring and elevated competition for talent.

Data for the Job Outlook 2024 survey were collected from August 2, 2023, through September 18, 2023. Of the 255 total respondents, 180 were NACE employer members, representing 20.3% of eligible member respondents. The Job Outlook 2024 survey was also distributed to nonmember companies, from which an additional 75 responses were received. NACE members can access the Job Outlook 2024 report in MyNACE.

NACE Dashboard: Access and Analyze the NACE 2024 Job Outlook Survey Data

In addition to having access to the Job Outlook 2024 report, NACE members also receive access to and can analyze the full set of data from the Job Outlook 2024 survey through the report’s dashboard in MyNACE. This is an invaluable way for your team to gain insight into trends and issues, and enhance your ability to develop solutions and advocate for and market your department. For directions and tips on how to use a NACE research report dashboard, please see this YouTube video.