Employers are expected to hire five percent more recent college graduates this year, according to a new study.
That’s good news for the national economy and the unemployment rate that currently hovers at about 4.4 percent.
According to WalletHub, a financial website, the fastest growing industry for recent college graduates is in STEM-related fields.
“STEM jobs are growing almost twice as much as any other type of job right now, at least until the end of 2020,” said Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst. “If STEM jobs continue to flourish, then the overall unemployment rate should remain steady or drop even more. If budget cuts to either of those two vehicles are made, the opposite effect might occur,” she said.
WalletHub recently published a report titled, “2017 Best and Worst States for Jobs” listing each state on a sliding scale based on 24 key factors. Gonzalez said that the purpose of WalletHub’s study is to help ease the job locating process for recent graduates.
Diana Popa, a spokesperson for WalletHub, said that there is great variance among states.
She explained that New Hampshire and South Dakota share the lowest unemployment rate, 2.8 percent, which is 2.4 times lower than in New Mexico, which registers the highest at 6.7 percent. Maryland, for example, has the fewest part-time employees for every 100 full-time employees, 48.47, which is 1.6 times fewer than in Oregon, which has the most at 77.34. New Hampshire has the lowest share of workers living in poverty, 3.99 percent, which is 2.7 times lower than in New Mexico, registering the highest at 10.93 percent.
