Pandemic 2020: Job outlook and hiring for graduating college class of 2021
Although college hiring has indeed been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, steps employers have taken have allowed them – at least to this point – to blunt its potential full impact, according to a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
NACE’s Job Outlook 2021 survey found that employers expect to essentially maintain hiring for Class of 2021 graduates at 2020 levels, with a drop of just 0.1%. (See Figure 1.)
There are a couple of considerations to weigh. First, the outlook for Class of 2021 graduates is more positive than expected given that the pandemic shut down the economy, plummeted the stock market, and raised the unemployment rate. In part, this has been offset as employers shifted their college recruiting approaches and operations to meet – or at least account for – the challenges the pandemic has created.
Second, in several employment sectors – such as chemical (pharmaceutical) manufacturing, miscellaneous support services, information, and wholesale trade – organizations are increasing their college hiring, which is helping to drive the overall hiring outlook.
Still, the shift the pandemic has caused in the job market for college graduates is evident in the percentages of employers that are planning to increase and decrease their college hiring this year. While more than half of respondents expect to maintain their hiring level from last year, 31% of responding employers expect to decrease their hiring this year, a jump from just 6.3% that intended to shrink their hiring for Class of 2020 graduates.
On the other hand, 16.5% are planning to increase their hires this year, which is down from 45.5% last year. (See Figure 2.)
Figure 1: Job Outlook hiring projections, 2017 – 2021
| Recruiting Year | Fall | Spring |
| 2021 | -0.1% | NA |
| 2020 | 5.8% | 6.3% |
| 2019 | 16.6% | 10.7% |
| 2018 | 4.0% | -1.3% |
| 2017 | 5.8% | 5.0% |
Figure 2: Employers’ hiring expectations, by percent of respondents, 2017 – 2021
| Recruiting Year | Increase | Maintain | Decrease |
| 2021 | 16.5% | 52.5% | 31.0% |
| 2020 | 45.5% | 48.2% | 6.3% |
| 2019 | 38.6% | 57.4% | 4.0% |
| 2018 | 43.7% | 46.7% | 9.6% |
| 2017 | 36.3% | 52.1% | 11.6% |
(Source: Job Outlook 2021, NACE)
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
