Job outlook for college graduates continues to improve

Last week's JobsSunday featured discussed the state of the job outlook in Indiana. Many of the occupations that are showing the largest growth numbers are in the semi-skilled services section.

That doesn't mean that there aren't a large number of job openings for college graduates and soon-to-be graduates. Quite the opposite.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14 million out of 55 million job openings will be for college graduates. That is 25.5 percent of all job openings, the highest percentage recorded in almost 30 years.

According to the Bureau, more than half of these openings are expected to come from the need to fill newly created jobs. The rest are projected to come from the need to replace workers who retire or leave an occupation permanently for other reasons. Many of today's college-educated workers are poised to retire, and replacement needs are expected to be high, especially in large occupations.

That's good news, since more high school graduates are choosing to attend college.

The number of people who have a college degree has been increasing steadily. According to Current Population Survey data, the number of people aged 25 and older who have a college degree grew from 37 million to 54 million between 1994 and 2006. By mid-2006, more than 28 percent of people aged 25 and older had a bachelor's or higher degree.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) report that the job market for college graduates is off to a positive start. Employers responding to the NACE Job Outlook Survey reported plans to hire between 9.5 - 13.5 percent more new bachelor's graduates than they did the previous year.

The early projection seems to fall right in line with the positive trend that began in spring 2010. The news for Class of 2010 graduates didn't start on a positive note, but by spring of 2010, employers reported that they would end the recruiting year hiring 5.3 percent more new graduates in 2009-10 than they did in 2008-09.

Providing more confidence in the encouraging news is the fact that the number of employers with plans to increase their actual number of hires has greatly improved. In last year's recruiting cycle, just 16.9 percent of respondents had plans to increase their number of hires. For the current recruiting year, the percentage of similar respondents has nearly tripled, with 47.7 percent having plans to increase their hiring numbers.

So which job markets are the hottest for college graduates?

According to CollegeBoard, here are the fastest growing occupations for grads, listed by growth percentage:

Network systems analysts 56.6 percent

Computer engineers 48.4

Computer analysts 43

Network administrators 38.4

Database administrators 38.2

Forensic sciences 36.4

Medical scientists 34.1

Postsecondary teachers 32.2

Hydrologists 31.6

Biomedical engineers 30.7

Recruitment specialists 30.5

Environmental engineers 30

According to the Bureau of Labor, a few other occupational fields are also strong.

Elementary school teachers are projected to increase by 587,000.

Accountants and auditors by 486,000.

Middle school teachers by 225,000.

Physicians and surgeons by 212,000.

Lawyers by 205,000.

Management analysts by 204,000.

As a whole, occupations that employ mostly college graduates are expected to gain new jobs faster than occupations that employ workers who have less education. Between 2004 and 2014, college occupations are projected to grow 19 percent overall, faster than the 13 percent average growth projected for all occupations. 16 of 20 college occupations are projected to grow faster than the average. And three -- postsecondary teachers, computer applications software engineers, and physical therapists -- are projected to grow more than twice as fast as the average.

Despite the impact of the Great Recession on the national job market, openings continue to grow for college graduates. The need by business for specific skills in technology, international business, and accounting has helped the recovery move along steadily. As the economy continues to improve, projections for job growth will continue to increase.