The Top Jobs For 2011: NACE Salary Survey

College seniors studying accounting are in luck -- accounting firms are doling out more offers to members of the class of 2011 than companies in any other area, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers' Winter 2011 Salary Survey (available for purchase here).

The survey includes 70 undergraduate areas of study and is published four times a year. The authors note that results are still being tallied as more companies make offers -- an updated version of this report will be available in the spring.

Below, see the top jobs for the class of 2011 -- and how much they pay.

Surprised? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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Accounting (private): $50,708

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Comments

[TeacherNH]

10:22 AM on 03/12/2011

Many comments are missing the point.

The article says NACE reports that so far this winter, these are the fields that are hiring the most and offering the highest starting salaries to undergraduates. Students only need a BA or BS to be hired, which is why jobs needing an advanced degree aren't mentioned.

These fields are increasing their hiring to handle new regulations and to replenish past job cuts. Both of these are a result of 2008’s financial meltdown.

High school business teachers are getting cut all over the place, but if more students tried these subjects they'd learn they are not so "boring". Maybe then we wouldn't have so many college students majoring in fields with few career prospects.

And yes, the conundrum we are facing is that (especially as boomers face retirement) many are putting stock portfolios ahead of everything else…

[marknez21]

12:45 AM on 03/08/2011

Wrong analysis.
Where they get this wrong statistics?

What happen to Computer Programmer and Statistician?

[vbscript2]

12:36 PM on 04/08/2011

Not really sure. If you actually look at NACE's website, the top 10 majors for starting salary were ALL engineering, IT, or 'engineering technology.' Comp Sci was the second-highest paid overall, second only to Chem.E. which always tops the list, but has few jobs and even fewer graduates. Comp Sci, on the other hand, has tons of gradutes, but even more jobs for them. ME, EE, and Comp.E. were right behind CS, in that order.

[olddognewtrick]

12:28 AM on 03/08/2011

Same slogan as the California pot initiative...One higher at a time...

[guitarguy22]

08:57 PM on 03/07/2011

The consulting one is ironic, seeing as how more often than not landing a job at a consulting firm where you're actually doing consultation requires years of experience. Which most college students don't have and get penalized for. Speaking from experience here.

[Epilef2000]

02:58 PM on 03/05/2011

How many students are really pursuing accounting...a better list would be the most likely job graduates will be working at..and i guarantee that most of these jobs, if not all, would not be on that list

[Catlovesyourmom19]

03:50 PM on 02/28/2011

Is this also the list of most boring jobs of 2011? My graduating class is going to be a group of incredibly depressed people.

[TicTucTo]

01:36 PM on 02/24/2011

All corporate jobs? Interesting. I wonder if this takes into account students graduating from professional or graduate schools...

[exmate]

08:18 AM on 02/24/2011

Investment banking? Those were the people who screwed up our economy by pimping off of people who actually produce goods and services. When will our best and brightest aspire to doing something productive? When will there be jobs for them?

There were once Americans trying to build better mouse traps. Now all they want to do is to bet on who seems poised to the stock market to build the best moustrap . They are not even betting on who will actually build the better mousetrap but on what the market the market is thinking for the moment.

[lovelysunshine]

08:34 AM on 02/24/2011

I am guessing you either don't have a job, or if you do its menial labor and therefore doesn't require any education because your comment lacks an understanding of how things truly work in this world.

[exmate]

08:37 AM on 02/24/2011

Guess again. I am a retired physician and I happen to have an MBA.

[vbscript2]

12:40 PM on 04/08/2011

The top 10 majors by starting salary were ALL engineering or IT-related fields. So, yeah, we still design stuff in the U.S. Design is where the U.S. has the advantage... manufacturing, not so much, except in highly specialized manufacturing that requires engineers that know what they're doing to be on-hand.

[PerryLogan]

06:23 AM on 02/24/2011

Don't forget "Tattoo removal specialist."

[klir2m]

03:19 AM on 03/12/2011

VCR Repair

[Oakland]

05:50 AM on 02/24/2011

What else would they be? We gave away manufacturing, we're closing our schools, and laying off public service workers left and right. All we have left is Wall Street and banks shuffling paper and ripping off people and the taxpayers.

[lovelysunshine]

08:35 AM on 02/24/2011

And because Americans are too short-sighted to study majors that require a brain.
Maybe that's why tech companies have to search in other countries for competent R&D staff...
Everyone in America wants an iPhone but in 10 years will be too stupid to understand the technology that powers it!

[exmate]

08:55 AM on 02/24/2011

Americans go where the money is. there is more money in financial management than there is in production.

Even the people who get engineering degrees soon learn that they will earn more if they get an MBA than if they get a MS in engineerring.

Americans spent twice as much for health care which for the average American is inferior to that in many countries on continental Europe.

[vbscript2]

12:46 PM on 04/08/2011

You apparently don't work in the R&D field... American companies don't go overseas to get competent R&D staff. They go overseas to fill the low-level technical positions, not the senior R&D engineers. I can assure you from much personal experience that the most competent R&D engineers are usually the ones from the U.S.A. While there are some very competent recent immigrants in R&D here, it's the exception and not the rule.


And, we understood the technology in an iPhone years ago. It's not that advanced and, no, not everyone wants one. Most of us with technical knowledge don't want a device that is locked down to the point that all code that runs on it has to be blessed by Steve Jobs or your warranty is void. That's why Android lept ahead of iPhone in unit sales shortly after its release.

[Gerald OHare]

01:17 AM on 02/24/2011

Math is the future.

[exmate]

09:04 AM on 02/24/2011

Pay HS math teachers more?

[MojoWorking]

01:08 AM on 02/24/2011

As many have said -- not one of these jobs directly produces anything. ANYTHING ! If you were to go back 10yrs you would see a good showing of software engineers and fewer electrical engineers. Go back 20yrs to '91 (pre-NAFTA) you would see software - mechanical - and electrical engineers for college grads. Same for '81. And prior to that in the '50s - '60s - '70s you could walk out of high school into a decent job.

Its true kids - those old films from the '50s and '60s may have been in black and white, but we were living the American dream in full color. What a sad and sorry state we have come to.

President Obama wants a new Sputnik generation ... he's sadly mistaken. The major "US" corporations want the next Sputnik to come from China. More profits for stake holders that way.

[ottovonb]

01:47 AM on 02/24/2011

True. True. Six different versions of shilling and shuffling money around. A real-life Bonfire of the Vanities lives on like some unkillable braindead zombie devouring what used to be a far more interesting, economically multifaceted and more productive culture. Now? Drones bent over monitors squeezed into cubes. Study at a bee hive and reflect.

[coveark]

12:29 PM on 02/24/2011

How sad this is....................

[vbscript2]

12:53 PM on 04/08/2011

What a ridiculous post. The top 10 majors in Spring 2011 by average starting salary offers were ALL engineers or IT-related fields. Comp Sci was number 2, behind only Chem.E. which always tops the list. ME, EE, and Comp.E. were 3, 4, and 5, respectively. And Obama is the one killing the programs that lead to the "next Sputnik." He says he wants it, but he kills DoD R&D spending, DoE R&D spending and NASA R&D spending (including cancelling the entire planned future of U.S. manned spaceflight capabilities.) Who else is left, but China and Russia? Liberals can gripe about defense spending all day long, but DoD, DoE, and NASA have historically (especially in the 50's and 60's) been the main drivers of U.S. R&D and the resulting economic growth and standard of living improvements. The U.S. corporations oppose Obama not because of what he says, but because of what he does. Corporations want U.S. R&D, Obama says he does and then cuts it while still managing to spend over a trillion dollars per year more than the U.S. fed gov't did only 4 years ago.

[rjaxone]

12:12 AM on 02/24/2011

If you're looking for a great well paying career look into becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist...

The training is rigorous, but the rewards are fabulous...

[MojoWorking]

01:11 AM on 02/24/2011

My wife is looking at this. She has the skills and capacity to tackle the education. Her concern is that at 54 she's starting way too late.

[Oakland]

05:52 AM on 02/24/2011

She better check labor market info for your area and make some informational interview calls to some of the places she thinks she would like to work. Are they hiring? What does it pay? Is it full-time? Do their jobs requires credentials AND experience? Do they have a preferences for schools, degrees, etc? Research, research, research before spending money for training for anything.

[rjaxone]

05:18 PM on 02/24/2011

It's not too late. If your wife is concerned about the time factor required to become a certified speech-language pathologist, she might want to begin by training to be a speech pathologist assistent. Then, she could move forward from there depending on how she feels about it, and other factors associated with her life..

[Vegan Girl]

12:04 AM on 02/24/2011

Wow! Seven professions and none of them is in production, art, or academics.

(I thought they were going to list things like prison guard, collection agent, probation officer, eviction officer, or underwriter......)

[aan2424]

08:35 PM on 02/23/2011

I'm wondering where they find these investment banking jobs that only pay $65,291?

[lovelysunshine]

08:38 AM on 02/24/2011

There's this place called Wall Street - try looking there...

[exmate]

09:09 AM on 02/24/2011

Wall Street is a malignant tumor mestastasizing to government, and corporate boardrooms, consumming resources and energy. It is destroying what is left of our economy.

wall street is not the answer to our problems. it is the problem.