College Journalism Grads: Screwed

Four out of 10 journalism and mass communications graduates from 2008 have been unable to find jobs, according to a survey from the Pew Research Project for Excellence In Journalism Cox Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research at the University of Georgia. This is a deep slide from 2007 as well as the lowest level of employment on record since the survey began 23 years ago.

The “Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communications Graduates”—which surveyed about 2,500 recent grads—found that only 60.4% of 2008 bachelor degree recipients had found full-time employment half a year after graduation.

In 2007, the best year in half a decade for journalism grads, 70.2% found jobs in the same time period.
Too, starting level salaries remained flat at a median of $30,000 for bachelor’s degree holders, and benefits and perks have been cut back from 2007 levels.

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