Spotlight for Career Services Professionals

The ratings that employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2019 survey have given to the 2018-19 job market underscore its strength.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents—63.3 percent—rate the current job market either “excellent” or “very good.” (See Figure 1.) Last year, just 45.6 percent of survey respondents assigned these ratings to the job market.

With the unemployment rate at a historic low, it is not surprising that these numbers are so high. This also bucks the trend seen over the last three years when most employers rated the job market as “good.”

Additionally, the group of employers providing an “excellent” job market rating has jumped from 7.4 percent last year to almost 17 percent this year. Once again, no employers rated the job market as “poor.”

Data for the Job Outlook 2019 survey were collected from August 1, 2018, through October 8, 2018. A total of 172 surveys were returned—an 18.5 percent response rate. The Job Outlook 2019 report is available free to members through MyNACE. Nonmembers can purchase the report through the NACE Store.

Figure 1: Employers rate the job market for 2018-19 graduates