Despite apparent economic headwinds, the future is looking bright for new college graduates.  This is according to a new report released by the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University.  The report indicates that job opportunities for new grads will expand by 12% across all degree levels. 

The 49th annual Recruiting Trends report was based on data from approximately 2,800 employers, collected primarily through their relationships with college and university career services offices.

Survey Highlights:

• 85% of respondents reported that they hired at least one new college graduate during the 2018-19 academic year. For employers who did not hire any college graduates last year, 87% indicated that they expect to hire at least one graduate this year.

• 92% (down slightly from last year) of employers described the overall new college labor market as good to excellent. Their average annual rating of 3.68 is nearly the same as last year (3.75).

• Employers expect to reduce MBA hires after several years of strong growth. Master’s job opportunities decline slightly this year after some rather robust years. Employers are expected to offer more doctoral and professional degree opportunities this year.

• Manufacturing companies plan to increase hires at the associate and bachelor’s levels reversing a recent decline in hiring activity.  However, automotive hiring is more cautious with slow growth in opportunities reported.

• Paid internships are the norm this year with 70% of respondents indicating all their internships are paid. Another 15% offer both paid and unpaid internships depending on the assignment. The final 15% offer only unpaid experiences. Unpaid experiences appear mostly in education, health care, non-profits and government.

• Nearly 75% of organizations extend signing bonuses up to $5,000, and another 21% offer $5,000 to $10,000. 6% offer more than $10,000 to sign, with some bonuses exceeding $25,000.

The authors of the report remind readers that the last two recessions (2000 and 2008) occurred after the release of the Recruiting Trends report in those years.  Neither of those reports hinted a recession.  In fact, employers were optimistic about the hiring outlook for college grads.  The data from this year’s survey suggests that a plateau may have been reached in employer optimism around the college labor market.  One item that stood out as a possible warning sign was the shift in hiring among the degree levels.  In this year’s report there was greater hiring at the lower degree levels, suggesting that while hiring was stable the mix of hires was favoring lower paid graduates.   

Additional ASE Resources
The American Society of Employers is set to launch its much-anticipated Salaries for Co-op Students and Recent College Graduates Survey in November.  Among other topics, this survey will examine the wages for recent college graduates by degree level and discipline.  Members interested in participating should contact the ASE Survey Team.

Source: http://www.ceri.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Recruiting-Trends-2019-20-Report.pdf