Where to build your career
With a low unemployment rate and millions of job openings, today’s graduates and other entrants into the job market are benefiting from a favorable economy that allows them to be more discerning about the positions they accept. As a result, many companies are upping their entry-level compensation packages, offering larger payouts and better perks.
But which entry-level positions and internships pay new hires and interns the most each month? According to a recent study conducted by Glassdoor Economic Research Analyst Amanda Stansell, jobs in tech, finance and consulting sectors offer the highest starting pay.
The study was conducted using salary data reported by Glassdoor users. Researchers focused on U.S.-based employees, aged 25 years old and younger, and the figures they submitted throughout 2018. Only jobs with at least 25 salary reports were considered. Similarly, internships were considered only if they had at least 25 submitted reports, though the data was collected from March 1, 2018, to Feb. 28, 2019.
Because compensation is a top factor when considering a new job offer, officials say they wanted “to shed light into which employers are offering the most competitive internship pay and which types of entry-level jobs command the highest salaries.”
Entry-level tech jobs pay the best
There are certain jobs that will always be in demand because of their importance to ubiquitous needs in our society. Plumber, auto mechanic, electrician and similar trades will never go away because of how important their skills are to our everyday lives. Looking at Glassdoor’s list of the top five highest-earning entry-level jobs, we may soon include tech-based jobs in that list.
Technology has increasingly embedded itself in nearly every facet of our lives as a whole, and the jobs that help facilitate tech are important in 2019 and beyond. “Young students interested in these types of [tech-based] roles should start thinking about how they can prepare for these STEM emphases in their educations, whether that be informal academic settings or through alternative skill-building courses like boot camps,” wrote the study’s researchers.
According to Glassdoor’s findings, entry-level data scientist positions have an average yearly salary of $95,000, followed by software engineer jobs paying an average of $90,000 per year. The next highest-paying positions are product manager ($89,000 per year), investment banking analyst ($85,000 per year) and product designer ($85,000 per year). Other high-paying entry-level positions include Java developer ($72,000 per year), software developer ($68,000 per year) and mechanical engineer ($65,000 per year).
Tech and finance companies pay interns top rates
Glassdoor’s study also looked at which companies offer the highest-paying internships. Nearly half of the 25 best-paying internships were tech-based, with finance and consulting coming in as the second and third most represented industries.
According to Glassdoor’s data, Facebook was the top company on the list, offering $8,000 per month to its interns. Following close behind is Amazon ($7,725 per month), Salesforce ($7,667 per month), Google ($7,500 per month) and Microsoft ($7,250 per month).
In fact, the top eight companies on the list offered more than $7,000 per month. If interns were paid that much as full-time employees, researchers said they would be paid more than the U.S. median salary.
“As part of their effort to recruit top talent, especially in today’s tight labor economy, these companies are offering high salaries to their interns in order to attract the best of the best,” researchers wrote.