This list won't be of much help for soon-to-be college graduates. But if your child is headed to college, or still deciding on which courses to take, this is information you'll definitely want to check out.

Using statistics and projections from U.S. government sources, the career site Zippia has released a list of the best starting jobs for 2017 college graduates in New Jersey.

  1. Computer programmers
  2. Medical and clinical laboratory technologists
  3. Computer systems analysts
  4. Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors
  5. Database administrators
  6. Technical writers
  7. Self-enrichment education teachers
  8. Network and computer systems administrators
  9. Sales engineers
  10. Social and human service assistants

To fit Zippia's bill for purposes of this report, the job must require a college degree. The analysis also looked at the average entry-level salary, as well as projected growth as an industry over the next several years.

Computer programmer received the No. 1 spot thanks to its $51,250 average entry wage and anticipated 15.13 percent growth. The report said New Jersey would have 19,860 such jobs by 2024.

Some positions further down the list, such as database administrator and sales engineer, actually boast a higher entry wage but are not as promising in the future in terms of job availability and projected industry growth.

According to Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, the job outlook for upcoming graduates is a positive one compared to just a few years ago.

"Unemployment for people with college degrees is very low. It's around 2 percent," Van Horn said.

Van Horn noted Zippia's list is just one of many sources of information on wage estimates, and one would be wise to take a look at these statistics when choosing which career path they'd like to pursue in college.

"All of us have to make choices in life between what we'd like to do versus what we can do and versus what we can afford to do," he said.

Someone whose family pays for their entire college education, he noted, may have more reasonable options than someone who will be facing $100,000 in debt upon graduation and may need to start earning solid money as quickly as possible.

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Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.

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