Forbes
The Industries Hiring The Most College Grads in 2018
By: Jeff Kauflin
Around this time of year, college seniors are thinking about what they want to do with their lives. It’s not an easy decision, and passion for a particular type of work should always be a major factor in what path you choose. But it’s also helpful to know what industries are hiring the most.
Michigan State released the results of its 47th annual “Recruiting Trends” survey. It polled 3,370 employers seeking college talent and asked about their hiring expectations for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The overall hiring outlook is white-hot. Employers surveyed expect to recruit 13% more bachelor’s degree graduates during the upcoming school year compared with last year, creating the eighth consecutive year of steady hiring expansion. “It’s the longest sustained period of growth for the college labor market since 1970, since we’ve been tracking it,” says Phil Gardner, the study’s author and director of Michigan State’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute.
One industry driving the trend is information services, which covers everything from broadcasting and telecommunications businesses to tech giants like Google and Facebook. Employers in the sector expect to hire 60% more employees this year compared with last, the largest increase of any sector.
Professional, business and scientific services is another booming field, with hiring expectations that are 30% higher than last year. This sector is huge — it accounts for roughly 21 million of the total 147 million non-farm jobs in the U.S. — and covers everything from law firms to veterinarians. Under this umbrella, engineering services are thriving and hiring, as are firms in management consulting, supply-chain logistics and scientific research, Gardner says.
The only industry where companies expect to make fewer hires is manufacturing, where employers predict they’ll hire 3% fewer people. “Automotive slowed down after a big ramp up,” Gardner says. Industry groups think total car sales this year will fall short of last year’s record of 17.6 million. “Aerospace has also cooled off,” Gardner adds. “They had some big contracts a couple years ago and hired like crazy. Now they’re going back to the norm.”
Numbers shown represent change in employers’ hiring expectations of bachelor’s degree graduates in 2017 to 2018 compared with 2016 to 2017.
1. Information Services: 60%
2. Administrative Services: 49%
3. Wholesale Trade: 46%
4. Transportation: 32%
5. Healthcare and Social Assistance: 32%
6. Professional, Business & Scientific Services: 30%
7. Construction: 29%
8. Nonprofits: 23%
9. Agriculture: 21%
10. Retail Trade: 19%
11. Educational Services: 17%
12. Accommodations & Food Services: 17%
13. Government: 7%
14. Finance and Insurance: 7%
15. Real Estate & Leasing: 6%
16. Manufacturing: -3%
