Our recent article in The LEAD Feed analyzed the complexities of the labor market for recent college graduates, using data from NC TOWER. It revealed that the class of 2023 faced an unexpected decline in first-year post-college wages.
The wage slump is not consistent across all fields of study. Graduates with bachelor’s degrees in high-earning fields like Computer and Information Sciences experienced significant declines in starting salaries. Surprisingly, new graduates in Mathematics and Statistics were also among those most affected. This may be due to temporary market saturation or changing employer expectations in tech and data-intensive sectors.
Conversely, majors typically considered niche or less lucrative, such as Architecture and Related Services; Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender & Group Studies; and Natural Resources & Conservation saw increases in starting wages. This could indicate a growing demand for their specialized skills.
These figures only reflect first-year earnings and may not represent long-term earning potential. New graduates often earn less early in their careers, with starting salaries influenced by short-term labor market conditions that do not necessarily predict future wage trends. We will continue to monitor these trends to better understand how the labor market evolves for recent graduates over time.
Additional data and insights are available on NC TOWER. The dataset underlying this story can be downloaded here.
