College hiring strongest in more than a decade

It is a good time to be a graduate, as employers say they are planning to hire more recent college graduates this year than they have in more than a decade, according to new CareerBuilder research. Eighty percent of employers say they plan to hire college graduates this year, up from 74% last year and 58% in 2008.

Those who are not hiring college grads say it’s because they aren’t expanding headcount this year (57%) or they need more experienced workers (26%).

The national survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder and included a representative sample of 1,012 hiring managers and HR professionals in the private sector across industries and company sizes.

Pay for new grads is rising slightly: 47% of employers plan to offer higher pay than last year, 45% anticipate no change and 8% plan to decrease the amount they offer.

Seventy-four percent of employers say they are willing to negotiate salary offers when extending a job offer to a recent college graduate.

The survey found that grads who majored in business, engineering, computer science, communications technology and health sciences are most in demand.