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Study finds business, STEM degrees are the most in-demand by employers in 2016

Posted at 4:08 PM, May 17, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-17 16:08:32-04

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) released a study in December 2015 showing what degrees are most in-demand by employers.

NACE sent out a questionnaire to 201 companies asking about their plans to hire college grads.

In the broad category, a bachelor's degree in business is the most desirable. Engineering comes in at a close second, with only a 2.7 percent difference from business. Computer & information sciences and math & sciences come in at number three and four respectively.

Rounding out the broad category list at number five is communications, which trails behind business by 47.2 percent.

According to NACE, accounting is the number one major in demand by employers, followed by computer science. Economics and marketing are tied for 10th place.

CBS News states that most employers don't think that recent graduates are ready for a job at their company, citing a survey by PayScale released in May 2016. The data was taken over the past two years from about 76,000 participants.

The survey shows that nearly 90 percent of college graduates believed they were well prepared for their jobs, but only half of hiring managers agreed.

According to CBS News, the survey showed that 60 percent of companies said new graduates lacked critical thinking skills and attention to detail. Forty-four percent weren't impressed with their writing proficiency and 39 percent were critical of their public speaking skills.