Not Much Change In Job Market For J-School Grads p.
Posted: 5/4/2011 | By: M.L. Stein
Survey results released at Journalism educators conference
A WEAK JOB market greeted 1992 journalism graduates, although the number of students finding work in the newspaper industry held steady at 8% from the previous year, according to an annual Ohio State University survey.
The unemployment rate for B.A. journalism degree holders remained at 16%, nearly double what it was four years ago, with broadcast majors suffering the highest rate of unemployment.
The results of the survey, which included 6,016 graduates from 82 journalism programs nationwide, were announced at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Kansas City.
Principal investigators, professors Lee B. Becker and Gerald Kosicki of Ohio State's School of Journalism, said that while most graduates found work, many were forced to take part-time jobs until they landed something better.
Overall, the pair added, the wages of the graduates are lower in "real dollars" than those who entered the job market a year or two earlier.
For the 1992 crop with full-time jobs, the median weekly salary was $350, reflecting almost no change since 1989. The 106 master's degree recipients reported a median salary of $476 last year, up from $423 in 1991. However, in 1990, the figure was $481. The researchers said they found no evidence that African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic graduates had a harder time finding jobs than whites but there also was no proof they did any better, despite affirmative action efforts claimed by employers.
Other findings in the survey:
? Graduates who specialized in news editorial were more likely to find work in the newspaper industry than students with other specialties were to find jobs in their fields.
? Graduates reported a wide range of benefits but few got child care or the use of a company car.
? Journalism enrollment dipped sharply in 1992 compared with a year earlier but the number of degrees granted ? 36,000 ? has been steady for the past three years.
? The decline in the percentage of students choosing news editorial journalism halted. However, the number of students working on campus newspapers dropped. Approximately eight out of 10 graduates had interned at a newspaper or other medium.
? The percentage of students going into producing or ad sales was 6.2. For public relations, it was 13.0.
Funding for the study was provided by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, National Association of Broadcasters, AEJMC, AEJMC's Council of Affiliates, and the Ohio State j-school.
In another survey, Professor Marion Tuttle Marzolf of the University of Michigan reported that, according to the editor-respondents ? several of them women ? a growing number of women are attaining high-level newsroom positions.
Moreover, women staffers are making a "significant difference" in defining the news and expanding the range of topics considered news such as sexual harassment and discrimination, family and child care, elder care, and women's health.
Marzolf said the number of women editors who responded to the survey was greater than their representation in newsroom management, but she noted that "One of six supervising editors is female in the typical daily newsroom today. Furthermore, 18 of them were at the level of assistant managing editor or above," including 15 at papers of 100,000-250,000 circulation.
Editors told Marzolf that their newspapers are providing more "people-oriented coverage" because women are on the city desk. They added that more stories concerning women-related issues are now on the front page and in metro, not in just the feature sections.
Elevating more women to management also has changed the newsroom environment, the editors disclosed, along with these comments:
? "Cheesecake has virtually disappeared. Sexist, off-color jokes are out ? totally."
? "News meetings are a bit less confrontational. The newsroom is more collaborative in style, more like the real world, more team-oriented."
? "Women have better people skills."
Marzolf commented, "Women already have made a difference in the newsroom and the potential for greater change is there . . . "
However, she said that further studies are needed to learn more about the experiences and motivation of women supervisors, as well as their values and editing styles.
A WEAK JOB market greeted 1992 journalism graduates, although the number of students finding work in the newspaper industry held steady at 8% from the previous year, according to an annual Ohio State University survey.
The unemployment rate for B.A. journalism degree holders remained at 16%, nearly double what it was four years ago, with broadcast majors suffering the highest rate of unemployment.
The results of the survey, which included 6,016 graduates from 82 journalism programs nationwide, were announced at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Kansas City.
Principal investigators, professors Lee B. Becker and Gerald Kosicki of Ohio State's School of Journalism, said that while most graduates found work, many were forced to take part-time jobs until they landed something better.
Overall, the pair added, the wages of the graduates are lower in "real dollars" than those who entered the job market a year or two earlier.
For the 1992 crop with full-time jobs, the median weekly salary was $350, reflecting almost no change since 1989. The 106 master's degree recipients reported a median salary of $476 last year, up from $423 in 1991. However, in 1990, the figure was $481. The researchers said they found no evidence that African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic graduates had a harder time finding jobs than whites but there also was no proof they did any better, despite affirmative action efforts claimed by employers.
Other findings in the survey:
? Graduates who specialized in news editorial were more likely to find work in the newspaper industry than students with other specialties were to find jobs in their fields.
? Graduates reported a wide range of benefits but few got child care or the use of a company car.
? Journalism enrollment dipped sharply in 1992 compared with a year earlier but the number of degrees granted ? 36,000 ? has been steady for the past three years.
? The decline in the percentage of students choosing news editorial journalism halted. However, the number of students working on campus newspapers dropped. Approximately eight out of 10 graduates had interned at a newspaper or other medium.
? The percentage of students going into producing or ad sales was 6.2. For public relations, it was 13.0.
Funding for the study was provided by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, National Association of Broadcasters, AEJMC, AEJMC's Council of Affiliates, and the Ohio State j-school.
In another survey, Professor Marion Tuttle Marzolf of the University of Michigan reported that, according to the editor-respondents ? several of them women ? a growing number of women are attaining high-level newsroom positions.
Moreover, women staffers are making a "significant difference" in defining the news and expanding the range of topics considered news such as sexual harassment and discrimination, family and child care, elder care, and women's health.
Marzolf said the number of women editors who responded to the survey was greater than their representation in newsroom management, but she noted that "One of six supervising editors is female in the typical daily newsroom today. Furthermore, 18 of them were at the level of assistant managing editor or above," including 15 at papers of 100,000-250,000 circulation.
Editors told Marzolf that their newspapers are providing more "people-oriented coverage" because women are on the city desk. They added that more stories concerning women-related issues are now on the front page and in metro, not in just the feature sections.
Elevating more women to management also has changed the newsroom environment, the editors disclosed, along with these comments:
? "Cheesecake has virtually disappeared. Sexist, off-color jokes are out ? totally."
? "News meetings are a bit less confrontational. The newsroom is more collaborative in style, more like the real world, more team-oriented."
? "Women have better people skills."
Marzolf commented, "Women already have made a difference in the newsroom and the potential for greater change is there . . . "
However, she said that further studies are needed to learn more about the experiences and motivation of women supervisors, as well as their values and editing styles.