Higher education posted the largest second-quarter increase for the sector since 2012, according to the higher education employment report from job search site HigherEdJobs. The number of jobs in higher education rose 1.8% compared to the same period a year ago, gaining about 31,300 jobs, the report found.

The US economy added jobs at essentially the same rate as higher education in the quarter; As a result, the market share of higher education jobs compared to all US jobs was unchanged compared to last year.

The gain in overall higher education jobs resulted from an increase in employment at four-year colleges and universities, which gained 34,100 jobs, or 2.0%, compared to the second quarter of 2015. However, community colleges lost 3,000 jobs, or 4.6% of their workforce.

The report also found ads for all types of jobs in academia increased 4.0% year over year in the second quarter, much less than the 14.7% year over year growth observed in the second quarter of 2015. The reduced growth rate in higher education job postings and the faster increase in higher education employment could simply be an indication of a time lag between when open positions are posted and when hiring takes place, according to the report.

The number of faculty job postings decreased 1.9% in the second quarter, the first decrease in three years. Meanwhile, postings for administrative and executive jobs increased marginally, up 6.1%, the smallest increase since at least 2013, regardless of quarter.

The report analyzes job-posting data from roughly 860 colleges and universities that have continuously subscribed to the company’s unlimited posting plan for four years, as well as data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics.