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The future for this Kent State University graduate is displayed on her cap at commencement.

(Kent State University)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - About 76 percent of college graduates in 2015 landed a full-time job or were accepted into graduate or professional school within six months of earning their degree, according to a report released Wednesday.

Those graduates outpaced their 2014 counterparts, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Class of 2015 First-Destination Survey.

Fewer 2015 graduates were working part time, still seeking employment, or still seeking continuing education than last year's survey of the Class of 2014.

This is the second year the association, which works with career services professionals at about 2,000 colleges gathered outcome data for new college graduates.

The Class of 2015 survey included those graduating July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015.

The survey includes outcomes information for associate-, bachelor's-, master's-, and doctoral-level graduates. The Class of 2014 survey covered associate- and bachelor's-level graduates only.

A total of 279 colleges provided data for nearly 244,000 bachelor's degree graduates for the current survey.

"The second annual First-Destination Survey provides an early look at the future of America's workforce and the future is bright for the Class of 2015," Marilyn Mackes, the association's executive director, said in a statement. "The outcomes for individual classes are important, but the survey will continue to reveal meaningful trends over time, which will be especially significant for public policy makers, business and industry leaders, the higher education community and all those focused on the value of higher education and a competitive and innovative U.S. labor force."

"Employed" covers a lot of ground, Inside Higher Ed reported. Only 54 percent of the class found traditional full-time jobs. About 10 percent are part-time employees, entrepreneurs, freelancers or postgrad fellows. Another small segment pursued service or military work.

Additional highlights for bachelor's degree graduates from the survey include:

Graduates in the New England (68.5 percent) and Plains (67.8 percent) regions fared best in terms of overall employment outcomes, while those in the Southwest (50.2 percent) and Far West (46.8 percent) were least likely to be employed full- or part time.

Computer science graduates had the highest full-time employment rate (76 percent).

Full-time employment figures for social sciences, English, and history majors improved over those posted for the Class of 2014.

Figure 1: First Destinations - Class of 2015 vs Class of 2014 First Destination Percent Class of 2015 Percent Class of 2014 Employed, full time 58.4% 55.4% Employed, part time 6.0% 6.6% Graduate/professional school/ continuing education 17.7% 16.4% Still seeking employment 11.0% 13.9% Still seeking education 3.2% 3.6% Not seeking 1.9% 2.2%

Source: Class of 2015 First-Destination Survey , National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Figure 2: Graduates and Majors by Degree Level Degree level # of graduates # of majors Associate 4,902 23 Bachelor's 243,642 185 Master's 38,411 130 Doctoral 6,377 73