(Yicai) July 17 -- Nearly 60 percent of last year’s college graduates in China took home a salary of less than CNY6,000 (USD835) a month at their first jobs, according to a new report. The best paying positions were in emerging high-tech industries such as semiconductors and internet development.

Some 57.8 percent of last year’s college graduates earned under CNY6,000 a month, according to a college graduate employment report released by education consultancy firm MyCOS Research Institute.

Some 23.2 percent earned between CNY6,000 and CNY8,000 a month, 9.3 percent earned between CNY8,000 and CNY10,000 (USD1,392) and 9.7 percent had monthly salaries above CNY10,000, the report said. However, the number of graduates earning more than CNY10,000 a month was slightly higher compared with those who graduated in 2023.

College graduates employed in the integrated circuit industry as engineers had the highest salaries at CNY8,459 (USD1,178) a month, the report said. This was followed by internet developers with an average salary of CNY8,245 and industrial internet engineers with CNY8,030.

Other high-paying jobs included game designers, who were paid around CNY7,799 (USD1,086) a month, sales engineers, who earned around CNY7,675 a month, software quality assurance and testing engineers, who took home CNY7,638 a month, semiconductor processing technicians with monthly salaries of CNY7,628, project managers with wages of CNY7,556 a month, software developers who were on CNY7,528 a month and big data engineers with salaries of CNY7,411 a month.

Graduates working in these high-paying professions not only earned better salaries, but they also reported higher levels of job satisfaction and a stronger link between their work and their fields of study compared to other graduates, the report said.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor