In good news for the class of 2010, a new survey found that employers are hiring more college graduates from this year's batch than they did from the class of 2008-09, an upward trend that college hiring has not seen for a while.

After dipping into the negative territory in 2009, employers are planning to hire 5.3% more college graduates this year, according to the spring update of of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) survey.

The positive outlook defied earlier projections that hiring for this year's class would be down by 7%. In fact, nearly 80% of the respondents said they plan to hire for full-time positions or internships this spring, while about 60% said the number of new hires will be equal to or greater than last year's.

In October 2008, employers indicated a 1.3% increase in college hiring, but that number plummeted to negative 22% in 2009 as the country plunged into the recession. The figures stayed in the negative territory throughout the downturn until the hiring uptick showed up in this month's NACE survey.