Spotlight for Career Services Professionals
Even though the overall hiring projection for new college graduates appears flat, most employers view the overall job market for college graduates in a positive light.
More than half of the employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2017 survey rated the market as “good,” with almost 30 percent providing a “very good” rating and an additional 7.6 percent rating the market as “excellent.” (See Figure 1.)
The group rating this year’s college job market as “fair” has dropped to less than 10 percent, and is down to less than half of the group that gave fair ratings to the job market in 2013-14. Additionally, just one respondent gave the overall job market a “poor” rating.
Data for the Job Outlook 2017 survey were collected from August 5, 2016, through October 4, 2016. A total of 169 surveys were returned—a 17 percent response rate. The Job Outlook 2017 report is available at www.naceweb.org/surveys/job-outlook.aspx or through the MyNACE area at www.naceweb.org/job-outlook/index.aspx.
Figure 1: Employers rate the job market for 2016-17 graduates
| |
Excellent |
Very Good |
Good |
Fair |
Poor |
| 2016-17 |
7.6% |
29.2% |
53.5% |
9.0% |
0.7% |
| 2015-16 |
6.1% |
35.9% |
45.9% |
12.2% |
0.0% |
| 2014-15 |
3.6% |
33.2% |
51.6% |
11.2% |
0.4% |
| 2013-14 |
1.1% |
16.5% |
60.4% |
20.9% |
1.1% |
Source: Job Outlook 2017, National Association of Colleges and Employers