Study: Journo Jobs Median Salary Stagnant

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It's a bad news, bad news scenario: an annual study of new journalism and communications grads found the median salary for jobs stuck at the same level for a fourth consecutive year, but at least there are fewer of these low-paying jobs available.

The Univ. of Georgia's James M. Cox, Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, which has conducted the salary survey of freshly minted graduates since 1987, found the median salary remained at $30,000, according to a story in Editor & Publisher magazine.  The median starting salary at daily newspapers was $27,000, compared to $25,000 at weeklies.

The E &P article noted the study's findings concerning the shrinking differential between salaries offered at union and non-union publications. Though non-union shops paid a median salary of $30,000 in both the 2008 and 2009 surveys, union publications' median salary, which started at $34,400 in 2008, declined to $30,700 in 2009.

Not to pile on, but the latest Center study reported that only 46.2 percent of bachelor degree recipients in the field had secured a job on Oct. 31, 2009,  10% fewer graduates than reported a year earlier. A quarter of the grads were employed part-time and another quarter were unemployed, according to the study.

A ray of sunshine: grads pursuing journalism and communications positions in Spring 2010 are enjoying somewhat more success landing a full-time job than grads reporting at the end of 2009.