Athens, Ga. – The job market for graduates of the nation’s journalism and mass communication programs showed signs of improvements in 2011 and 2012 continuing the trend from a year earlier, according to a report released today by researchers at the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The findings, which were based on responses from 2,195 graduates, were delivered at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Chicago.
The gains in the job market were modest, the researchers said, and 2011 graduates faced more limited job prospects than did graduates four years earlier.
The 2011 graduates were more likely to report having a job upon graduation, more likely to report having a full-time job and more likely to be working in communication than were graduates a year earlier. While most graduates reported having an in-person job interview, the percentage was unchanged from a year ago.
Graduates landing a full-time job reported slightly higher salaries than did graduates a year earlier, but the gain just slightly beat the rate of inflation, and the improvement in salaries was the first reported by bachelor degree recipients since 2006.
Because of inflation, the 2011 graduates actually earned significantly less than did the 2006 graduates in inflation-adjusted dollars. For the most part, graduates reported benefits packages in 2011 comparable to those reported by 2010.
Graduates in 2011 with a job were no more likely than graduates of a year earlier to report that they selected their job because it allowed them to meet career goals, but they were more likely to report being satisfied with the job they held. Graduates were just slightly more likely to report being satisfied with their career choice.
The complete report, along with the research methodology, is available at http://www.grady.uga.edu/annualsurveys/.
The Annual Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Graduates is conducted each year by UGA’s James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research. The Cox Center is the international outreach unit of the Grady College.
Lee B. Becker, director of the Cox Center, and Tudor Vlad, associate director, wrote the report with graduate research assistant Konrad Kalpen.
About the Grady College: Established in 1915, the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in journalism, advertising, public relations, digital and broadcast journalism, and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.
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