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Employers amended their original projections for the college Class of 2018 and now expect to increase hiring by 10.7 percent, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2019 Spring Update. That is down from what they originally projected in fall 2018—16.6 percent—but still very encouraging.
In this most recent update on college hiring projections, employers now plan to hire 10.7 percent more Class of 2019 graduates than they did from the Class of 2018 for positions in the United States. (See Figure 1.)
While the current hiring projection is nearly 6 percent lower than the original, both fall and spring projections are in the double-digits, making this the first time since 2011 that this has occurred. Another sign of the positive results this year: Just one year ago, respondents were planning an overall decrease in college hiring of 1.3 percent.
An examination of the overall hiring plans by respondents reveals that more than half will maintain their numbers of college hires, and slightly more than 40 percent will increase their numbers. The remaining 7.2 percent of respondents will decrease their hiring numbers. (See Figure 2.)
The Job Outlook 2019 Spring Update survey was conducted from February 27 – March 29, 2019; the survey was sent to 921 NACE employer members; 155, or 16.8 percent responded. The survey updates hiring projections for the Class of 2019; those projections were collected from NACE employer members from August 1 – October 8, 2018, and reported in the Job Outlook 2019 survey, published in November 2018. The Job Outlook 2019 Spring Update report is available free to members through MyNACE.
Figure 1: Job Outlook Hiring Projections, 2011 – 2019*
| Year |
Fall |
Spring Update |
| 2019 |
16.6% |
10.7% |
| 2018 |
4.0% |
-1.3% |
| 2017 |
5.8% |
5.0% |
| 2016 |
11.0% |
5.2% |
| 2015 |
8.3% |
9.6% |
| 2014 |
7.8% |
8.6% |
| 2013 |
13.0% |
2.1% |
| 2012 |
9.5% |
10.2% |
| 2011 |
13.5% |
19.3% |
Source: Job Outlook 2019 Spring Update, National Association of Colleges and Employers. *The projections for the Classes of 2014 – 2019 are for U.S. locations only. Prior years’ projections are shown for informational purposes only and should not be compared to projections for 2014 – 2019.
Figure 2: Hiring Plans
| Job Outlook
| Percent Increasing Hires |
Percent Maintaining Hires |
Percent Decreasing Hires |
Total Number of Respondents |
| Spring Update 2019 |
40.1% |
52.6% |
7.2% |
152 |
| Job Outlook 2019 (Fall 2018) |
38.6% |
57.4% |
4.0% |
172 |
| Spring Update 2018 |
42.6% |
50.7% |
6.8% |
148 |
| Job Outlook 2018 (Fall 2017) |
43.7% |
46.7% |
9.6% |
135 |
| Spring Update 2017 |
37.3% |
54.0% |
8.7% |
150 |
| Job Outlook 2017 (Fall 2016) |
36.3% |
52.1% |
11.6% |
146 |
| Spring Update 2016 |
40.9% |
22.0% |
37.1% |
132 |
Source: Job Outlook 2019 Spring Update, National Association of Colleges and Employers