August 31, 2001 >
Employers expect to hire 19.7 percent fewer new college graduates in 2001-02 than they hired in 2000-01, according to the results of the Job Outlook 2002 survey, conducted during late July through mid-August by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

On average, respondents expect to hire an average of 118 new college graduates in the September 2001-May 2002 cycle. That's down from the 147 new college hires they averaged over the September 2000-May 2001 period.

Overall, 30 percent of employers responding to the survey plan to cut back on their college hiring for the 2001-02 college hiring year, while 30.1 percent plan to increase their college hiring, and 39.9 expect to maintain their college hiring at the same level as last year.

Hiring cuts are biggest among those respondents who hired large numbers of new college graduates last year (250+); they project hiring 23.2 percent fewer new college graduates this year.

The hiring outlook is worst for manufacturers, who expect to hire 30.1 percent fewer new college graduates. Last year, manufacturing organizations hired an average of 156 new college graduates; this year, they expect to hire an average of 109.

Hiring plans among service employers aren't much better: They expect college hiring to be down 24.2 percent and anticipate hiring an average of 96 new college graduates this year. Last year, they hired an average of 126 new college graduates.

Not all of the college hiring news is bad: Government/nonprofit organizations project a 20.5 percent increase in college hiring. They are looking to hire an average of 283 new college graduates in 2001-02, up from an average of 235 in 2000-01.

Other highlights from the survey:

-- College hiring looks weakest in the West-employers there anticipate cutting college hiring by an average of 44.8 percent-and-least weak- in the South, where employers are projecting just a 7.3 percent average cut for the year. Cuts in the Northeast (18.5 percent) and Midwest (17.6 percent) are closer to the overall average decrease of 19.7 percent.

-- More than 44 percent of respondents plan to scale back on the number of schools they will recruit at this year. Overall, employers expect to visit 12.6 percent fewer college campuses this year to recruit for their work forces. On average, they will recruit at 22 colleges during 2001-02; they visited an average of 25 colleges in 2000-01. In general, it is manufacturers and service employers who expect to cut back on campus visits, while government/nonprofit employers actually anticipate upping the number of schools they visit by 12.6 percent.

The Job Outlook survey is an annual forecast of the hiring intentions of employers as they relate to new college graduates. Each year, the National Association of Colleges and Employers surveys its employer members about hiring plans and other employment-related issues.

The Job Outlook 2002 survey is being conducted in two parts: The first part was distributed to 1,619 NACE employer members and data were collected July 23 through August 25, 2001; 439 employers, or 27 percent, responded. By type of employer, 53.4 percent of respondents were service employers, 36.8 percent were manufacturers, and 9.8 percent were government/nonprofit employers.

NACE is conducting the second part of its Job Outlook 2002 survey to gather information about characteristics of successful job candidates and other issues related to the employment of new college graduates. Results will be available in November.

Since 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has been the leading source of information about the employment of college graduates.