A new study conducted by the International Network of Graduate Recruitment and Development Associations (INGRADA) has found that base annual salaries of US college students graduating in 2010 held more or less steady even as the salaries of many of their international peers differed from that reported in previous years.

The Global Graduate Recruitment Survey report contains results from six countries based on data provided by partner organizations, which are major college and university recruitment associations in these countries. It covers new undergraduate starting salaries, offer-acceptance rates, vacancy figures, retention rates, and costs associated with hiring new college graduates.

Based on study of US graduate data provided by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), INGRADA found that the average annual salary of the Class of 2010 in USA fell less than 1 percent from what was reported in 2009 - from $48,663 to $48,288 marking a negligible fall of 0.7 percent.

Graduates in the UK also shared that experience with their average base pay holding steady at £25,000 in 2010.

However, in contrast, graduates in both Canada and Australia reported significant departures from the reported base salary in 2009; while data from Canada showed a fall of 3.6 percent,Australian base salaries returned an increase of 5.2%, according to the survey.

The study also showed that while the average number of job openings offered by US employers were the largest by far (121 against the second best of 38 in UK), the acceptance rate was only 73.2% - well below the 90% reported in countries like Hong Kong and South Africa.

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