It’s June, which means that a new wave of college graduates is plunging into the job market. How much can these graduates expect to earn in their first job? According to Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of payroll-processing giant ADP, graduates with degrees in a STEM discipline can expect to pull down as much as $65,000. “Employers are definitely going to be on the offensive here trying to find people,” he told Fortune. Of course, depending on other variables (such as their area of focus and the state in which they reside), graduates can expect to pull down much more. According to this year’s Dice Salary Survey, technology professionals in states such as California, Massachusetts, and New York can expect to earn six-figure salaries. That’s no surprise—unemployment in many of the country’s major tech hubs is really low, meaning that employers must fight harder for talent. Other surveys have come to similar conclusions, with SmartAsset’s recent list of the top places for STEM jobs calling out Cleveland, Detroit, and even Huntsville, Alabama as top places for those with science and technology degrees. Does that mean every graduate with a STEM degree can expect to nail down an extremely lucrative job? Not necessarily — complaints about stagnant wages and minimal job prospects have plagued some STEM industries for years. But for those graduates in “hot” fields such as data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, the chances of securing a job are likely pretty good. If you’re interested in seeing how your current (or prospective) salary compares to others in your field, as well as the technology industry as a whole, check out Dice’s interactive salary comparison tool, which offers jobs’ minimum, mean, median, and maximum salaries. And remember: employers are more optimistic about hiring in the second half of 2017, according to a new survey. How Much are STEM Graduates Earning?
It’s June, which means that a new wave of college graduates is plunging into the job market. How much can these graduates expect to earn in their first job? According to Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of payroll-processing giant ADP, graduates with degrees in a STEM discipline can expect to pull down as much as $65,000. “Employers are definitely going to be on the offensive here trying to find people,” he told Fortune. Of course, depending on other variables (such as their area of focus and the state in which they reside), graduates can expect to pull down much more. According to this year’s Dice Salary Survey, technology professionals in states such as California, Massachusetts, and New York can expect to earn six-figure salaries. That’s no surprise—unemployment in many of the country’s major tech hubs is really low, meaning that employers must fight harder for talent. Other surveys have come to similar conclusions, with SmartAsset’s recent list of the top places for STEM jobs calling out Cleveland, Detroit, and even Huntsville, Alabama as top places for those with science and technology degrees. Does that mean every graduate with a STEM degree can expect to nail down an extremely lucrative job? Not necessarily — complaints about stagnant wages and minimal job prospects have plagued some STEM industries for years. But for those graduates in “hot” fields such as data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, the chances of securing a job are likely pretty good. If you’re interested in seeing how your current (or prospective) salary compares to others in your field, as well as the technology industry as a whole, check out Dice’s interactive salary comparison tool, which offers jobs’ minimum, mean, median, and maximum salaries. And remember: employers are more optimistic about hiring in the second half of 2017, according to a new survey. 
