US employers plan to hire 1.7% more interns this year than last and pay them more than last year’s rate, according to the new “2018 Internship & Co-op Survey” report released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. However, growth rate in hiring of interns is down from a similar survey last year when 3.4% of employers planned to increase hiring of interns.

Intern wages increased this year by 67 cents to an average hourly rate of $18.73, up 3.7% from last year’s rate. This continues a trend as wages for interns with bachelor's degrees have been on the rise since 2013, according to NACE.

At the bachelor’s-degree level, computer science interns earn the highest average hourly rate at $21.01, followed by engineering at $20.92; math/statistics at $20.46; and health science/nursing at $20.13.

The survey of NACE employer members was conducted from Nov. 8, 2017, to March 2, 2018, and included 309 respondents.