The heavy hand of recession is weighing down prospective college graduates who are vying for fewer and lower paying jobs, according to a national collegiate employment association.
Some fields have seen gains, but overall, the National Association of Colleges and Employers is reporting that the hiring of college graduates is projected to decline 20 percent compared with last year.
The agency conducted a survey in July and December of national employers that asked them to project how much hiring of college graduates they expect to do during the next year. Despite the marked difference in economic outlook between July and December following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the association reports that responses hovered at a 20 percent decline.
"Certain areas such as government and nonprofit agencies have been most positive about hiring new graduates, but for the most part the projections are down," said Jerry Bohovich, a representative of the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
The association also broke down results by geographic region and found that employers in western states - especially technology saturated markets - expected to further reduce hiring.
"By and large, this can all be attributed to the state of the economy," Bohovich said. "Employers' confidence and ability to offer jobs is just down."
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While hiring has declined, students in most science and business fields are still expected to land jobs with a slight drop in salary compared with graduates of the previous two years.
"It may be a decline, but those are still $40,000-plus jobs and that's not bad," Bohovich added.
Once they land jobs, graduates may not be welcomed as warmly as their predecessors, who netted substantive signing bonuses. The association reports that this year a little more than one third of employers surveyed plan to offer signing bonuses to new college hires, which fell from more than 55 percent offering such incentives last year.
"That's just another indication that there is more competition for fewer jobs and that the market is really tough right now," Bohovich said.
Career placement departments at universities nationwide told the association that visits by campus recruiters also are down about 20 percent.
"We even had some schools in California tell us that our numbers looked good compared to theirs because they had seen a 60 percent drop in recruiters at their schools - that represents a severe decline," Bohovich said.
A representative from UNM Career Services reported that the University is probably experiencing a 20 percent decline in recruitment, but could not say for sure how hard UNM has been hit by the recession. New Mexico State University has reported a 40 percent decline in visits by campus recruiters.
Bohovich says that while the association has not surveyed employers about when they expect hiring of college graduates to increase, he and his peers have heard that most people expected the economy to have improved by now. He added that the future still hinges on the nation's economic outlook and employers' confidence.
