Friday, August 1, 2003

CONTACT: Sallie Barker, 706/583-8220, sbarker@uga.edu

UGA SURVEY SHOWS JOURNALISM GRADS FACE CHALLENGING JOB MARKET

ATHENS, Ga. – Journalism and mass communication graduates continue to have a hard time landing their first professional jobs, according to the 2002 Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates released today at a meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Kansas City.

"The job market was very difficult for journalism and mass communication graduates again in 2002," said Lee B. Becker, who conducts the survey each year. "Many of the students simply could not find suitable employment despite all their efforts." The surveys are conducted in the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, a unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Highlights of the survey include the following:

* The percentage of journalism and mass communication bachelor’s degree recipients with a full-time job six to eight months after graduation dropped for the second year in a row in 2002.

* The percentage of journalism and mass communication bachelor’s degree recipients with at least one job offer upon graduation also declined, following a sharp decline a year earlier.

* In 2002, the unemployment rate for those journalism and mass communication bachelor’s degree recipients who were actually seeking jobs was higher than the national unemployment rate, both for the overall labor force and for those in the age cohort of the journalism and mass communication graduates.

* The job market was particularly difficult for graduates who were members of racial and ethnic minorities, and the gap between the level of full-time employment of minority graduates and their counterparts increased to more than 10 percentage points.

* Salaries remained static in 2002, according to the survey, with the median salary earned by journalism and mass communication bachelor’s degree recipients with a full-time job at $26,000. Benefit packages also remained stable, but only because more graduates were paying for the benefits entirely by themselves.

Despite the bad news, seven in 10 of the graduates with full-time jobs reported they were proud of the company for which they work, and six in 10 said the work they do is meaningful.

More than 2,900 graduate surveys were returned from degree recipients of more than 100 schools drawn to represent the 450+ journalism and mass communication programs in the United States. The surveyed students represent the estimated 39,000 bachelor's degree recipients and 3,500 master's degree recipients nationwide for the 2001-2002 academic year.

The survey is made possible by support of the following sponsors: American Society of Newspaper Editors; Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication; Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication; Cox Newspapers, Inc.; the Freedom Forum; Gannett; Hearst Corporation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; National Association of Broadcasters; Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Foundation; Newspaper Association of America Foundation; the Newspaper Guild-CWA; Scripps Howard Foundation and the Grady College.

Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication provides seven undergraduate majors: advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. In addition, the college offers three graduate degrees and is home to the Peabody Awards, one of the premier award programs in broadcasting and electronic media.

To obtain the full report and other information on the Annual Surveys of Journalism & Mass Communication, visit www.grady.uga.edu/annualsurveys.

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