Engineering students still on top

Hard-to-find engineers are still the most sought after college graduates and companies are paying top dollar for their skills. The College Placement Council Inc. of Bethlehem, Pa., reports that 65 percent of all job offers made to 1980-81 graduates were to engineering majors even though they received only 7 percent of the bachelor degrees.

Petroleum engineering graduates draw top salary offers, $26,652 a year, an 11 .8 percent increase over the previous year. Chemical engineering graudates ranked second, posting an average annual salary of $24,360, a 12.7 percent gain.

Students majoring in the humanities and social sciences, 33 percent of graduates with bachelor degrees, accounted for only 4 percent of job offers, the survey revealed.

Average annual salaries were about $13,992 for social science graduates, $14, 448 for humanities graduates and $16,440 for economics graduates.