{"id":90337,"date":"2008-08-07T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2008-08-07T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2008\/08\/07\/amid-layoffs-and-cutbacks-communication-grads-find-jobs\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:16:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:16:23","slug":"amid-layoffs-and-cutbacks-communication-grads-find-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/08\/07\/amid-layoffs-and-cutbacks-communication-grads-find-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Layoffs and Cutbacks, Communication Grads Find Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most recent crop of college journalism and communications graduates encountered a flat job market and stagnant salaries, but enjoyed high levels of workplace satisfaction, according to a new report from the University of Georgia.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

The \u201cAnnual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates\u201d<\/a> also provides evidence of the rapidly expanding role of online news. More than half of last year\u2019s graduates working in the communications field say their jobs involve writing or editing for the Web\u2014more than double the percentage back in 2004.<\/p>\n\n

The survey of more than 2,200 students who received either bachelor\u2019s or master\u2019s degrees in journalism and mass communication in 2007 reveals a mixed bag of indicators when it comes to the employment landscape. But given the difficult economic times and uncertainty afflicting much of the news industry, those findings are seen, relatively speaking, as good news.<\/p>\n\n

[of the media industry]<\/p>\n\n\n

The job picture changed very little from 2006 to 2007. The survey found that by late October, 63.3 % of the 2007 bachelor\u2019s degree recipients had landed full-time work compared with 63.7% the year before. When the field is narrowed to those graduates who looked for work, the 2007 full-time employment number rises to 73.9%, which is virtually the same as the 73.6% figure the previous year.<\/p>\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

There are, however, some disparities when it comes to who gets the jobs. Continuing a long trend, more female graduates seeking employment (78.5%) found work than male graduates (71.9%). There is a bigger gap between minority and non-minority grads. For 2007, 66.2% of members of racial and ethnic minority groups reported holding full-time jobs compared with 78.7% of non-minority graduates. That gap has grown in the past few years and is the largest in the past two decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

The survey also found that the median salary for a 2007 bachelor\u2019s degree recipient\u2014$30,000\u2014did not increase over 2006. That\u2019s the first time compensation has remained flat since 2003. Certain media sectors\u2014daily and weekly newspapers, public relations and ad agencies, magazines and especially online publishing\u2014saw salary increases from 2006 to 2007 while paychecks dropped in radio, broadcast television, and cable. Benefit packages, according to the report, \u201cimproved just slightly\u201d in 2007.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Reinforcing the idea that a career in communications is not the fast track to financial security, that median $30,000 figure for 2007 journalism and mass communications grads is about $6,000 less than what liberal arts students made, almost $16,000 less than what business administration\/management grads earned, and more than $30,000 less than the annual compensation for computer science students.<\/p>\n\n

Despite flat wages, workplace satisfaction for 2007 graduates jumped noticeably. The percentage of full-time employees saying they were \u201cvery satisfied\u201d with their jobs jumped to 42.1% from 36% in 2006. (That number had been as low as 28.9% in 2001.) That\u2019s the highest level of job satisfaction in 20 years and the report suggests it may reflect some relief at being employed in a \u201cdifficult\u201d market.<\/p>\n\n

The report also highlights the increasing emergence of online journalism as part of the job description. More than half\u201455.6%\u2014of the 2007 bachelor\u2019s degree recipients working in communications say their job has entailed writing or editing for the Web. That reflects a steady and sharp increase, up from 22.6% in 2004.<\/p>\n\n

That trend dovetails with what the survey found out about media usage by the journalism students. Of the 2007 grads, 55% said they had read a newspaper the previous day compared with 60.7% in 2006. (In 1994, that number was as high as 81.7 %.) At the same time, 75.1% of the 2007 students said they went online for news the day before, a number that has grown steadily every year for the past four years. Another 10.3% said they had gotten news via a mobile device in the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n

Those numbers seem to reinforce sentiments of one master\u2019s degree recipient in journalism and mass communication who responded to the survey\u2019s request for advice for \u201cthose who follow you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cStay on top of technology and embrace it,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new University of Georgia survey of recent degree recipients finds that despite the growing economic ills of the media industry, the job market for 2007 graduates was basically unchanged from a year earlier. 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