There’s only a month to go until graduation, but Jamie Labrier isn’t stressed out about finding a job.

The Kansas University senior started her employment search in February, quickly lined up five interviews and by mid-March had accepted work as a junior supervisor for Target Distribution Center in Topeka — at a salary she said made her “very happy.”

“It went pretty fast for me,” said Labrier, a political science student from McPherson. “I didn’t really have any expectations. I thought it would probably take a little bit longer than that, but it didn’t, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.”

KU graduates in the first years after the 9-11 attacks entered an unwelcoming job market, but experts say this spring employers are offering more jobs at higher salaries.

“We saw more companies at our career fair this spring than we had in previous years,” said Cathy Schwabauer, director of career services at the School of Engineering. “We’re definitely on the upswing from what had happened since 2001.”

The National Association of Colleges and Employers last week released a report showing that salary offers to new college grads are on the rise.

“Employers are fighting for that talent a little more,” said Jennifer Jordan, career services director for KU’s School of Business.

The top pay is to business and engineering grads, the association said. An accounting student, for example, can expect an average offer of around $44,000, while chemical engineers are seeing offers of more than $54,000.

A new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows that average salaries offered to new college graduates are climbing at a steady pace. That's good news for these mechanical engineering students at Kansas University. From left are Garrett Witthar, Spring Hill junior, Nick Roberts, Olathe junior, and Chris Zeller, Douglass senior, who are working on KU's entry for next month's Society of Automobile Engineers Formula Car Competition in Detroit.

Jason Miller, a senior in chemical engineering from Valley Falls, said he would make about that much when he joined Astaris in North Lawrence after graduation. He might have been able to make more money, he said, but he wanted to stay close to home.

“At first it was kind of scary, this fall,” Miller said of his search. “I don’t know if it was luck or what it was.”

The low end of the pay scale is occupied by students receiving liberal arts degrees, the association said. The average pay offer to those graduates is $30,337 — but even that’s on the rise, up 4.2 percent from last year’s average of $29,119.

Kelli Brandt, a Leawood senior who is graduating with a degree in women’s studies, said she knew people from liberal arts could expect less money. She said she hoped to find a job working for a nonprofit agency in Lawrence — or, barring that, a stint in graduate school.

“It worries me a little bit, but I realize I have time to get financially stable and try to figure out where to go from there,” Brandt said.

6News video: Salaries for new graduates are on the rise NACE Press Release: Average Starting Salaries Continue to Climb for New College Graduates

KU officials, at least, are breathing a sigh of relief that the recent doldrums appear to be lifting.

“I think the outlook is great,” Jordan said. “We’re not seeing as many students frustrated with the process. Those that are doing the right things and approaching it early, they’re finding the opportunities.”