A majority of employers plan to either increase hiring or maintain hiring levels for the class of 2024. Approximately a quarter of employers, 24.9%, are planning for an increase in the hiring of new grads from the college class of 2024, and 57.7% are maintaining their hiring levels, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update.

Only 17.4% of employers plan to decrease hires, but their planned cuts mean overall hiring projections are down 5.8% from last year.

“Our data indicate that decreases are largely tied to particular respondents, especially by industry,” NACE President and CEO Shawn VanDerziel said in a press statement. “When taken in the context of coming off historic hiring that followed the pandemic, and in light of industry’s impact on the hiring outlook, the overall drop in hiring for the class of 2024 is neither unexpected nor necessarily dire.”

Industries with large decreases in hiring this year include chemical (pharmaceutical) manufacturers, which planned a hiring increase of slightly more than 30% last year but expect to decrease their hiring by almost 13% for the class of 2024. In addition, computer and electronics manufacturers, with a 19.1% increase for last year’s class, dropped to almost 12% this year.

The report also found that in the business sector, “finance, insurance and real estate” organizations are planning a 14.5% decrease in hiring this year as opposed to their 16.7% increase last year. While the majority of employers in these industries are maintaining their hiring from one year to the next, many companies will be hiring less, thus causing an overall decrease, according to the report.

On the other hand, industries with positive projections this year that had planned decreases last year include miscellaneous manufacturing (20.3% this year compared to -4.6% last year), utilities (0.3% compared to -39.0%) and miscellaneous professional services (5.8% compared to -16.6%). 

“The large year-over-year swings in hiring we are seeing in some industries is, in part, evidence of these employers recalibrating after the pandemic, which is impacting the overall hiring outlook for the class of 2024,” VanDerziel said. “Both the gains and cutbacks reflect a return to ‘normal’ hiring plans and mean that while some graduates will have more opportunities than their counterparts from the class of 2023, others in the current class will need to be flexible — and even creative — in their job search.”

Data for the Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update survey was collected from Feb. 6 to March 15, with 226 respondents, of which 185 were NACE employer members.

Correction: The headline and first paragraph of this story have been corrected from an earlier version.