Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals, March 14, 2012 

Bachelor’s degree level students studying engineering and computer science command the highest average wages among paid interns, according to results of NACE’s 2012 Internship & Co-op Survey.  

Overall, employers reported paying their engineering major interns an average of $18.54 per hour, and computer science (IT) major interns an average of $17.77. 

Wages rates vary by a variety of dimensions, including the intern’s year in school. Hourly rates for seniors majoring in engineering, for example, outpace those for freshmen engineering students by more than 32 percent ($20.79 versus $15.71).

Among responding employers, nearly all pay all of their interns; just a handful of respondents (4.2 percent) reported that some small portion of their interns are unpaid. Overall, respondents reported paying 99.6 percent of their interns.  

NACE’s 2012 Internship & Co-op Survey was conducted from November 11, 2011, to January 13, 2012. The survey was sent to 952 NACE employer members; 280 organizations, or 29.4 percent, took part. A report based on the survey will be available in April.