A new report from the staffing firm Robert Half International says that starting salaries in the PR and marketing fields are expected to grow by 3.5 percent in 2012.

By comparison, starting salaries in the legal field are expected to see a 1.9 percent bump, while IT professionals will likely see a 4.5 percent increase. The average increase for all office workers is 3.4 percent.

The report also reveals average starting salaries for a number of positions in the PR and marketing fields. For instance, the starting salary for a PR specialist in a corporate environment, with one to five years of experience, ranges from $38,750 to $60,500. PR specialists with more than five years of experience can expect a starting salary of between $59,000 and $82,750, according to the report.

Here’s the full breakdown of PR jobs:



The report notes that while starting salaries will likely increase, the hiring climate in the U.S. and Canada is expected to tighten as employers take more time to fill available jobs. According to the National Association for Business Economics, U.S. companies have scaled back their plans to hire during the remainder of 2011 due to predictions about ongoing slow growth.