The latest forecasts from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics show that job prospects are very optimistic for most computer occupations. The exception is Computer Programmers. Should we be alarmed?

A report in the New York Times this week revealed that the number STEM graduates were likely to exceed job openings in their fields of study, apart from in Computer Science where job openings slightly exceeded the number of graduates.

The NYT also reported that Computer Science came top in Glassdoor's ranking of the median base salary of graduating majors in their first five years of employment at $70,000. 

Taking its data from Payscale.com, Forbes includes two Computer Science jobs in its list of 10 Best-Paying  STEM Jobs for Recent Grads, reporting that the media pay for Computer and Information Research Scientist with a bachelors degree and three years of experience or less was $58,000 (ranked 5th) and that for Software Developer with comparable qualifications and experience was $55,100 and if these figures seem low it is because they date back to 2013.

The good news from the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics figures is that the median pay for a Computer and Information Research Scientist, which typical requires a Master's degree as the entry-level requirement, is $111,840, and that for a Software Developer, for which a Bachelor's is sufficient, median pay is $102,280.

Moreover job openings in both are expanding "much faster than average" as these charts of projections for the decade 2016-26 indicate: 

As was the case last time we looked at these biennial figures (those for 2014-24), the demand for the job role "Computer Programmer" is expected to decline by 8% and for the same reason that companies outsource their coding tasks. 

More Information

Where the STEM Jobs Are (New York Times)

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