College grad job outlook, pay stronger this year

Employers are on the lookout this year for graduates holding the following bachelor's degrees, according to the NACE survey. They are listed in order of anticipated demand:

1. Accounting
2. Business administration and management
3. Computer science
4. Electrical engineering
5. Mechanical engineering
6. Information sciences and systems
7. Marketing and marketing management
8. Computer engineering
9. Civil engineering
10. Economics and finance

The number of new college grads hired by the service sector is expected to increase by 19.8 percent this year, based on NACE's findings. Smaller growth is predicted for the manufacturing sector (up 9.5 percent) and the government/nonprofit sector (up 9.0 percent).

Pay levels are also likely to rise. NACE predicts that the average salary offer for a new college grad this year will be 4.6 percent higher than a year ago.

Above-average increases are expected for graduates with degrees in engineering, management-information systems and business administration. But students with liberal-arts degrees, such as psychology, political science, history and English, will see little change from last year.

Cool job markets
Midwestern and Northeastern industrial areas dominate the lower end of Bizjournals' standings.

Detroit, which ranks 66th overall, is the large metro with the bleakest outlook for workers in their 20s and 30s. The problems besetting domestic automakers, combined with the erosion of Detroit's manufacturing base, have caused the area to lose 105,100 jobs in the past five years.

Other metros that have relatively little to offer young adults are No. 65 Dayton, Ohio, No. 64 Cleveland and No. 63 Grand Rapids, Mich.

"Particularly in Ohio and Michigan, the restructuring in the motor-vehicle industry is hitting hard," says Koropeckyj of Moody's Economy.com. "And because of the troubles in their core industries, their demographics are not good."

Bizjournals generated a separate list of the medium-sized markets that have the most appeal for young workers. Those rankings cover 105 metros with 250,000 to 750,000 residents.

Atop those standings is Fayetteville-Springdale, Ark., which is home to the University of Arkansas and the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest retailer in the world. The area's job base has expanded by 3.9 percent a year since 2001.

The runners-up in the medium-area standings are Reno, Nev.; Des Moines; Madison, Wis.; and Provo, Utah.

At the bottom of this list is Hickory, N.C., a metro of 350,000 people about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte. It has lost 11,000 jobs in the past half-decade.

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