The job outlook news was uniformly good in an annual report published Thursday by Michigan State University.

The Recruiting Trends survey took information from more than 2,500 employers of all types nationwide and found growth is strongest in construction; professional, business and scientific services; real estate and leasing; transportation; retail trade; educational services; and health services. It’s weakest in manufacturing and wholesale trade, according to The Detroit News.

The report showed over the past year, job expansion has been strong and the unemployment rate is 2 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the News reported.

“We’ve never witnessed such a stretch in the 48 years of this report,” Phil Gardner, survey author and director of MSU’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute, said in the News story. “The good news is the pace of growth has slowed down so we can sustain it.”

Other findings from the report:

≤ Small companies, defined as those with 500 employees or fewer, are recruiting more actively than large companies. Graduates also prefer small companies, which are poised to add almost 25 percent more new college grads than last year.

≤ Instead of increasing salaries, employers are spending more on health care for their employees.

≤ The hardest jobs to fill are those in nursing, engineering and construction.

≤ Employers lament the lack of “soft skills” among college graduates, especially the ability to work with diverse personalities and across different functional areas.

≤ Internships are important since employers prefer to hire those with professional experience.

We can only hope this positive report accurately reflects what employment environment college graduates will encounter when searching for that first professional posting.