Graduate job-seekers in the United States will have to be patient for some time yet as recruitment rates remain stunted across the country, a new report has concluded.

After polling more than 2,500 graduate employers across the 50 states, Michigan State University reported that graduate recruitment rates dropped 40 per cent over the past year.

While the US economy is picking up, this decline is anticipated to continue with a further two per cent fall in 2010, the report from the university's Collegiate Employment Research Institute noted.

Commenting on the current state of the US graduate jobs market, the institute's director Phil Gardner said: "It's kind of bottomed out.

"It's not going to get incredibly worse yet, unless some other wheels come off the economy."

On a more positive note, the report also revealed that graduates seeking jobs in social work, agriculture or e-commerce are best placed to have a fruitful 2010 as these sectors start recruiting again.

President Barack Obama recently announced that he is to host a summit at the White House in December with the aim of finding ways to help Americans back into work.