Gusto, which provides cloud-based payroll benefits and HR management software, released its new graduates report with insights into the top industries and regions for this key demographic. Luke Pardue, economist at Gusto, joined Cheddar News to discuss the report's findings and dissect job prospects.

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Which Sectors Are Hiring the Most New College Graduates?

It's career Friday here on Shetter news when we share our top tips and advice for job seekers. Well, it is college graduation season which means that millions of young people in America will soon be entering the workforce or at least attempting to GUSTO which provides cloud based payroll benefits. And hr management software just released its annual new graduates report with insights into the top industries and regions for this key demographic. I'm joined now by Luke part economist at Gusto. Luke. Thank you so much for joining us. What are the main takeaways from this report? Thank you for having me. Um You read Augusto, we provide payroll and hr services for 300,000 plus small and midsize businesses across the country. And we took a look at how the new grad market is shaping up as may rolls around. And uh these new grads are looking for jobs. And what we saw was that as the overall economy cools from the past two years, the market for new graduates is cooling as well and they might face a little bit of tougher job prospects going into the labor market. We forecast that hiring, which is expected to peak in May will still grow but will grow by about a 25% slower rate than last year. And so what we're seeing is this cool down amid uh you know, the broader economic cool down that we're seeing. So what does this mean for new grads? Uh what would you recommend to them? Luke? Sure. I, I think the really important takeaway is that even though we're seeing this overall cool down, there's still a lot of pockets of opportunity in different cities and different industries. For instance, we're seeing a lot of growth still in personal services sectors like retail and food and beverage that are hiring full time salaried positions and they're hiring roles that these new grads have the skills to fill. I'm thinking about uh e-commerce managers, including beverage or marketing directors in retail and all of these uh shifts to, to ecommerce and technology that these industries have undergone have undergone are exactly the skills that these new grads have to fill. So let's talk about some of the top spots, some of the top cities or metropolitan areas where we might be seeing the most growth as well. I know San Jose, I think does take the cake this time, but talk to me about some of these other locations and what makes them good opportunities for new grads? Sure. Um You know, we saw a lot of uh pockets of opportunity in different cities across the country. What we saw in San Jose took the top spot. It has the fastest hiring of these new graduates. But actually the South and Texas rounds out most of the, the rest of the top 10 when we look at sort of the top 50 metro areas. Houston Austin Dallas are all cities that are hiring new right now. And one really important fact is that they have a low cost of living, which means these new grads paychecks can go farther. And so what we're seeing is that these new grads are flocking to the south just as a lot of the other, the rest of the population is and there's a lot of economic opportunity there. If new grads have that flexibility to to go to a different city, are there other industries? Uh Luke over time that you expect to pick up some momentum that could be good opportunities for grads. Sure, some of the other areas that we're seeing specifically are in health care and also education. These are industries that are still recovering from the pandemic and staffing shortages and they're still super eager to scoop up new graduates. So if these new grads have skills in those industries, they have a much easier time finding employment. And that's one of the pieces of advice that I would have for these new grads is to be flexible and to be open to new opportunities, maybe not necessarily look in the industries that you might have thought you found a job, you could find a job but look in new industries and you'll find new opportunities. What about the places that grabs should think about where they can move that they would get the biggest bang for their buck knowing that inflation is likely to be sticky for a while. Yeah, exactly. I, I think as we see inflation stay high and as prices for almost everything continue to rise, it's really important to keep an eye not only on that sort of uh nominal paycheck, that salary that you see on your paycheck, but where that paycheck goes the farthest and what we saw was Houston took the top spot in terms of making that paycheck go the farthest. And then Philadelphia was number two. And again, the rest of uh the south was also on that list. Austin Dallas, these are all cities with relatively low cost of living specifically low rent where new grads can make their paychecks feel like they're going a little bit farther. I like that the most. Bang for your always important here on our personal finance segment. Let's also take a look at remote work offerings. Luke any sort of sense as to what might be out there for grads who would prefer that option. Sure. You know, I think what we're seeing overall is a lot of opportunities across the country in remote work. So you might not necessarily need to be in that city to find an opportunity there. And, uh these companies are hiring across the country because they found that the talent pool is much wider. And so new grads might be able to look in Houston in Texas where these opportunities are, but might maybe not necessarily need to move there because remote work has taken hold and, and everybody realizes that the talent pool is much more wide and, and in fact, nationwide nowadays. Mhm. All right, Luke part economist at Gusto. Uh Luke, thank you so much for joining.