Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/04/2011 -- A new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc says that the job market for new college graduates looking for entry-level jobs is at its best since 2008.

The downside to this is that most new college graduates will have to settle for smaller salaries, fewer benefits as well as working in fields outside their major. The Challenger report highlighted some important points in its report. 20 to 24 year olds had a 2.4 percent jump in employment from January to March 2011.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers found from a survey of 170 employers that they planned to increase hiring of new graduates by 21 percent. Another wider survey of 4,600 employers, by Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University, says that hiring of graduates will increase by 10 percent.

The report comes as good news to college graduates who are facing one of the worst job markets in recent years. The Pew Research Center says that nearly 40 percent of the 18-29 year olds are either unemployed or discouraged workers. But the new graduates also face competition from people who graduated in the last five years and who still have not found their ideal job.

The increased competition for entry level jobs means that college graduates will increasingly have to keep up with new ways of tracking jobs. Several employers, especially small and mid-sized businesses do not advertise on traditional job boards or visit college job fairs far from their location.

Job search engines such as EntryLevelCrossing specialize in tracking down jobs directly from employer websites. EntryLevelCrossing has been able to find over 17,000 jobs in entry level positions so far across the country.