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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 389. Average annual salary of bachelor's degree recipients employed full-time 1 year after graduation, by field of study: 1976 to 1994

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                                |                 |                 |                 |                 |                 | Average   |Percent |Percent
                                |Average salary\1\|Average salary\1\|Average salary\1\| Average salary  |  Average salary | salary\1\ | change | change
                                |of 1974-75 degree|of 1979-80 degree|of 1983-84 degree|   of 1985-86    |   of 1989-90    |of 1992-93 |   in   |   in
                                |   recipients    |    recipients   |    recipients   |degree recipients|degree recipients|degree re- |constant|constant
         Field of study         |in February 1976 |   in May 1981   |   in June 1985  |  in June 1987   |  in June 1991   |cipients in|dollars,|dollars,
                                |_________________|_________________|_________________|_________________|_________________|April 1994 |1976 to |1991 to
                                |Current |Constant|Current |Constant|Current |Constant|Current |Constant|Current |Constant|___________|  1994  |  1994
                                |dollars |  1994  |dollars |  1994  |dollars |  1994  |dollars |  1994  |dollars |  1994  |  Current  |        |
                                |        |dollars |        |dollars |        |dollars |        |dollars |        |dollars |  dollars  |        |
________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|________|________
               1                |   2    |   3    |   4    |   5    |   6    |   7    |   8    |   9    |   10   |     11 |    12     |   13   |   14
________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|________|________
  Total ........................| $7,600 |$19,800 |$15,200 |$24,800 |$17,700 |$24,400 |$20,400 |$26,500 |$23,600 |$25,700 |   $24,200 |   22.2 |   -5.8
                                |________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|________|________
Engineering ....................| 12,200 | 31,800 | 22,400 | 36,500 | 24,100 | 33,200 | 26,600 | 34,700 | 30,900 | 33,600 |    30,900 |   -2.8 |   -8.0
Business and management ........| 10,200 | 26,600 | 16,300 | 26,600 | 18,700 | 25,800 | 21,100 | 27,500 | 24,700 | 26,900 |    27,100 |    1.9 |    0.7
Health professions .............|  8,600 | 22,400 | 17,300 | 28,200 | 20,800 | 28,600 | 22,600 | 29,400 | 31,500 | 34,200 |    31,300 |   39.7 |   -8.5
Education\2\ ...................|  6,300 | 16,400 | 11,500 | 18,700 | 13,800 | 19,000 | 15,800 | 20,600 | 19,100 | 20,800 |    19,300 |   17.7 |   -7.2
Public affairs and social       |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |           |        |
  services .....................|    --- |    --- | 13,700 | 22,300 | 15,100 | 20,800 | 17,700 | 23,100 | 20,800 | 22,600 |    22,000 |    --- |   -2.7
Biological sciences ............|  6,500 | 16,900 | 14,500 | 23,600 | 15,100 | 20,800 | 16,400 | 21,400 | 21,100 | 22,900 |    22,800 |   34.9 |   -0.4
Mathematics and other sciences .|  7,000 | 18,200 | 16,300 | 26,600 | 17,500 | 24,100 | 22,500 | 29,400 | 27,200 | 29,500 |    25,400 |   39.6 |  -13.9
Psychology .....................|    --- |    --- | 12,500 | 20,400 | 14,600 | 20,100 | 17,300 | 22,600 | 19,200 | 20,800 |    19,500 |    --- |   -6.3
Social sciences ................|  6,700 | 17,500 | 14,000 | 22,800 | 15,800 | 21,800 | 20,300 | 26,500 | 22,200 | 24,200 |    22,100 |   26.3 |   -8.7
History ........................|    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    21,000 |    --- |    ---
Humanities .....................|  5,800 | 15,100 | 12,600 | 20,500 | 14,000 | 19,300 | 16,200 | 21,200 | 19,100 | 20,700 |    21,300 |   41.1 |    2.9
Communications\3\ ..............|    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- | 16,200 | 22,300 |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |       --- |    --- |    ---
Miscellaneous ..................|  6,800 | 17,700 | 15,100 | 24,600 | 18,600 | 25,600 | 17,600 | 23,000 | 20,800 | 22,600 |    21,600 |   22.0 |   -4.4
________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|________|________

---Not available.
\1\Reported salaries of full-time workers under $2,600 in 1976, $4,200 in 1981, $5,000 in 1985 and $1,000 in 1994 were excluded from the tabulations. Also those with salaries over $500,000 in 1994 were excluded.
\2\Most educators work 9- to 10-month contracts.
\3\In 1994, data were not collected on Communications as a separate field of study.

NOTE: Data exclude bachelor's recipients from U.S. Service Schools and graduates living at foreign addresses at the time of the survey. Constant dollar adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Recent College Graduates" surveys and "Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, First Follow-up" survey. (This table was prepared July 1997).


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest