Job Outlook Spring Update: Overall College Hiring Dips, But Most Employers Will Maintain or Increase Hiring

BETHLEHEM, PA—Nearly 83% of employers anticipate increasing (24.9%) or maintaining (57.7%) hiring for the college Class of 2024, according to new research conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

This leaves just 17.4% of respondents planning to decrease hires, but their planned cuts mean overall hiring projections are down 5.8% from last year, NACE’s Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update survey found. (See Figure 1.)

“Our data indicate that decreases are largely tied to particular respondents, especially by industry. When taken in the context of coming off historic hiring that followed the pandemic, and in light of industry’s impact on the hiring outlook, the overall drop in hiring for the Class of 2024 is neither unexpected nor necessarily dire,” says Shawn VanDerziel, NACE’s president and chief executive officer.

Industries with large decreases in hiring this year include chemical (pharmaceutical) manufacturers, which planned a hiring increase of slightly more than 30% last year, but expect to decrease their hiring by almost 13% for the Class of 2024. The same is true for computer and electronics manufacturers as their planned increase for last year’s class (19.1%) has dropped to a decrease of almost 12% this year. In the business sector, finance, insurance, and real estate organizations are planning a 14.5% decrease in hiring this year as opposed to their 16.7% increase last year. While the majority of employers in these industries are maintaining their hiring from one year to the next, there are many companies that will be hiring less, thus causing an overall decrease.

On the other hand, there are industries with positive projections this year that had planned decreases last year, including miscellaneous manufacturing (20.3% this year compared to -4.6% last year), utilities (0.3% compared to -39.0%), and miscellaneous professional services (5.8% compared to -16.6%). (See Figure 2.)

“The large year-over-year swings in hiring we are seeing in some industries is, in part, evidence of these employers recalibrating after the pandemic, which is impacting the overall hiring outlook for the Class of 2024,” VanDerziel says.  

“Both the gains and cutbacks reflect a return to ‘normal’ hiring plans and mean that while some graduates will have more opportunities than their counterparts from the Class of 2023, others in the current class will need to be flexible—and even creative—in their job search.”

About the Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update: The Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update survey was conducted from February 6 – March 15, 2024. Of the 226 total respondents, 185 were NACE employer members, representing 21.0% of eligible member respondents. The Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update survey was also distributed to nonmember companies; this group provided an additional 41 responses. The survey updates hiring projections for the Class of 2024; those projections were collected from NACE employer members from August 2 – September 18, 2023, and were reported in Job Outlook 2024, which was published in November 2023.

About the National Association of Colleges and Employers: Established in 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is the only professional association in the United States that connects 12,300 college career services professionals, more than 4,000 early career talent acquisition professionals, and more than 400 business solution providers that serve this community.

NACE is the premier source of market research on career readiness, the employment of recent college graduates, and the college-to-career transition. NACE forecasts hiring and trends in the job market; tracks salaries, recruiting and hiring practices, and student attitudes and outcomes; and identifies best practices and benchmarks.

NACE offers its members unparalleled research, networking and professional development opportunities, guidance on standards and ethics, and advocacy on key issues. For more information, visit www.naceweb.org. NACE maintains a virtual press room for the media.