Congrats, MBA grads! You’re getting a $45,000 raise

The Graduate Management Admission Council, the organization that administers the GMAT, has an answer for MBA graduates. They’ll make more this year than they did last year. That’s right, MBA grads are getting a raise.

The Council’s 2015 survey of corporate recruiters found that, globally, more than half of employers will increase starting salaries for new MBA hires in 2015. Thirty percent of employers will give raises equal to the rate of inflation; 21% of employers will increase starting salaries by even more than that.

The expected median starting salary for recent MBA graduates in the United States will be $100,000 this year. That’s an increase of $5,000 from last year’s salaries and a $45,000 advantage over what survey respondents are paying candidates with bachelor’s degrees. (The Council pegs the starting salary for graduates with a bachelor’s degree at $55,000, based on its survey of corporate recruiters. By comparison, the National Association of Colleges and Employers says the starting salary for bachelor’s degree earners in the class of 2014 was $48,127.)

There’s more good news for MBA grads. Their overall job prospects are the best they’ve been in more than a decade, with 84% of respondents saying they plan to hire MBA graduates this year, up from 74% last year.