Outlook Brightens for College Class of 2026 Entry-Level Hiring

BETHLEHEM, PA—Employers expect to increase their new college graduate hiring from the Class of 2026 by 5.6%,* according to a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Shawn VanDerziel, NACE president and chief executive officer, said the anticipated gain in hiring for the Class of 2026 bucks recent trends in the job market for new college graduates.

“The hiring increase we are reporting in NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update follows two years of lackluster job markets for new college graduates as well as earlier projections for this year’s class that indicated a flat job market,” VanDerziel explains.

This updated hiring projection for the Class of 2026 is driven upward by the more than one-third of responding employers reporting plans to bring in additional hires this year. In the fall, just one-quarter of respondents to the Job Outlook 2026 survey reported plans to increase their hiring.

Company growth and commitment to succession planning are the primary reasons they cited for their increased hiring.

In particular, organizations reporting hiring increases tend to fall in certain industries, including:

• Information;
• Engineering services;
• Wholesale trade;
• Construction; and
• Miscellaneous professional services

The hiring gains are also primarily occurring at the largest companies: Those with more than 5,000 employees are increasing their hiring by 8.7% this year.

“In addition,” VanDerziel adds, “the overall increase aligns with an earlier NACE study that found employers expect to up the number of interns they will hire for their summer programs by nearly 4%.”

*The Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update reports the median hiring percentage instead of the mean to mitigate skewed results caused by outliers. The fall 2025 projection was originally reported as the mean; the fall 2025 projection as the median was -2.4%.

About the Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update: The Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update survey, sponsored by Jobscan, was conducted from February 12 – March 17, 2026. Of the 185 total respondents, 142 were NACE employer members, representing 19.9% of eligible member respondents. The Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update survey was also distributed to nonmember companies; this group provided an additional 43 responses. The survey updates hiring projections for the Class of 2026 that was published in November 2025.

About the National Association of Colleges and Employers: Established in 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is the only professional association in the United States that connects more than 14,500 college career services professionals, nearly 2,900 early career talent acquisition professionals, and more than 400 business solution providers that serve this community.

NACE is the premier source of market research on career readiness, the employment of recent college graduates, and the college-to-career transition. NACE forecasts hiring and trends in the job market; tracks salaries, recruiting and hiring practices, and student attitudes and outcomes; and identifies best practices and benchmarks.

NACE offers its members unparalleled research, networking and professional development opportunities, guidance on standards and ethics, and advocacy on key issues. For more information, visit www.naceweb.org.