Ho Hum Hiring News, Collegiate Division (041907)

Had to wait a week to get this “Worst Economy Since Hoover” story in, but it can’t be ignored, because it’s a biggie (HT Wizbang), and it seemed to get very little attention:

College grad job outlook, pay stronger this year
Updated: 6:37 p.m. ET April 10, 2007
More than a million college seniors are preparing to enter the real world this spring — and their prospects are remarkably good.

The number of new college graduates hired by U.S. companies will be 17.4 percent larger this year than a year ago, says a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a human-resources organization.

“The outlook this year is very good,” says Andrea Koncz, NACE’s employment information manager. “In 2002 and ‘03, we saw declines in hiring because of 9/11 and the economy. But in ‘04, hiring turned upward, and it’s been growing ever since.”

Note that though the link is at MSNBC, the underlying story comes from a weekly business newspaper, and that the Formerly Mainstream Media did very little with this story. This Google News search result confirms the relatively light coverage.
Now what happened in the middle of 2003 that might (just might) have led to the turnaround in college hiring? If you said “the economy-stimulating tax cuts of 2003,” go to the head of the class.

It should also be noted that the article tells grads that their best prospects are generally in Western (read: low-tax Red) states.