Architecture and the arts have not been kind when it comes to employment of newly minted college grads, says a new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce.

According to the report, recent grads in these five fields have had the most trouble finding work:

1. Architecture (13.9%)
2. Film Video and Photographic Arts (12.9%)
3. Fine Arts (12.6%)
4. Commercial Art and Graphic Design (11.8%), and
5. Information Systems (11.7%).

Who’s had better luck among recent grads? That would be those who majored in healthcare or education. Among those new grads, the unemployment rate is a relatively low 5.4%.

Surprised by these findings? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Graduates of Loma Linda (CA) University, which educates many students pursuing health-related careers, reported the highest starting salaries of all graduates included in a recent survey of 600 schools.

PayScale, Inc., which conducted the study, said Loma Linda grads reported an average starting salary of $71,400. MIT graduates were a close second at $71,100, while graduates of Harvey Mudd College, the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University rounded out the top five.

Princeton was the only Ivy League school to crack the top 10, coming in at number seven.

Where do you think your school would fit in on this list? Tell us in the comments section below.

But a new study is pointing to some surprisingly hot career trends. 

A study from the University of California San Diego Extension lists these 12 careers as the hottest for today’s college graduates:

1)     Casual Game Development: About 200 million people play casual games online every month. It’s one of the fastest growing areas of the video game industry.

2)     Clinical trials design and management for oncology: Specially, pharmaceutical drug and medical device development.

3)     Data Mining: For businesses in every industry, it’s all about information – who’s using which services and products. Analyzing this data, gives businesses a compass for their own offerings.

4)     Computer Software Engineering: This is expected to be one of the fastest growing careers for the next seven years.

5)     Web Feature Writing: As newspapers are vanishing, online publications are growing.

6)     Geriatric Healthcare: As Baby Boomers get older, there’s a greater need for nursingand home healthcare.

7)     Graphic Design for Mobile Media: 10% of Americans use the Internet or video via a mobile device every week. Web site design is big.

8)     Occupational Health and Safety: Careers in this field are expected to increase 9% over the next few years.

9)     Specialized Spanish/English Translation: Law, medicine and business are looking for people bilingual in Spanish and English.

10)  Sustainable Business Practices and the Greening of all Jobs: This is about meeting compliance and regulation changes as well as growth opportunities in going green.

11)  Teaching Adult Learners: With the economy down, adult education is up. Private education was one of only two industries that’s seen job growth in 2009.

12)  Teaching English as a Foreign Language: There’s an availability of teaching jobs abroad as well as at home for those who can teach English as a second language and English as a foreign language.

Are these career trends affecting academics at your school? Let us know in the comments section below.