Spotlight for Career Services Professionals
Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
In 2018, the average hourly wage earned by interns is up 3.7 percent from last year. Overall, interns also saw their average hourly wages climb across all degree levels and years.
Across degree levels, the average hourly wage ranges from $14.47 for first-year associate degree students to $32.35 for those pursuing doctoral degrees. (See Figure 1.)
The biggest gains over last year’s wages were among the highest degree levels—interns earning doctoral degrees and second-year master’s students, whose average hourly salaries grew $2.51 (8.4 percent) and $2.04 (8.1 percent), respectively. Second-year associate degree interns also saw a sizable gain of $1.37 (9.1 percent) per hour from last year.
NACE’s 2018 Internship & Co-op Survey was conducted from November 8, 2017, to March 2, 2018, from NACE employer members; there were 309 respondents representing 29.1 percent of all eligible respondents. For information about 2018 intern wages, see the survey’s companion report—the NACE 2018 Guide to Compensation for Interns and Co-ops—which is available through MyNACE > Research Reports.
Figure 1: Average hourly wage for interns, by degree level/year, 2018 and 2017
| |
|
2018 Mean |
2017 Mean |
| Associate |
1st Year |
$14.47 |
$13.94 |
| 2nd Year |
$16.37 |
$15.00 |
| Bachelor’s |
Freshman |
$16.54 |
$15.67 |
| Sophomore |
$17.66 |
$17.11 |
| Junior |
$19.26 |
$18.53 |
| Senior |
$20.30 |
$19.51 |
| Master’s |
1st Year |
$25.40 |
$24.58 |
| 2nd Year |
$27.16 |
$25.12 |
| Doctoral |
$32.35 |
$29.84 |
Source: 2018 Guide to Compensation for Interns and Co-ops, National Association of Colleges and Employers