Job market looking up for college grads

EAST LANSING, Mich., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A survey of U.S. employers suggests the job market for college graduates is stabilizing, Michigan State University said.

Results of MSU's annual recruiting trends study suggest hiring of graduates is expected to increase an average of 4 percent across all degree levels over the next year.

Phil Gardner, director of MSU's Collegiate Employment Research Institute, said the job market appears broader, deeper and more stable.

"It looks like this year's market is going to have legs," Gardner said Friday in a release. "Last year it didn't have legs; we saw some aggressive growth early on but then it disappeared."

Forty-two percent of the 3,300 companies surveyed said they plan to hire in the next year, the highest mark since 2007. Hiring for graduates with bachelor's degrees is expected to jump 7 percent, with employers adding 26 new employees on average, while MBAs will see a 6.4 percent increase. Doctorate-degree hiring will see the biggest jump at 12 percent and professional degree holders will see an 11 percent increase.

Hiring will be strong for engineering, computer science, accounting, agriculture sciences and agriculture business, and select science major disciplines.