WASHINGTON — Economists are predicting a brighter 2012 for those on the market for a job.

A recent University of Michigan study predicted the jobless rate would continue to drop, reaching 8.8 percent by the end of 2012.

And, for current undergraduates who will be looking for work come May, the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2012 survey found that employers plan to hire 9.5 percent more graduates of the 2012 class as they did in 2011.

Recently, CareerBuilder put together a list of the top nine occupations expected to grow in the New Year.

Biomedical engineer topped the list, which is a field expected to grow 72 percent by 2018. Another bonus is the average salary, $82,421 per year.

The second profession on the list is computer software engineer. MSN says those with experience in computer systems design have already seen growth in their filed during 2011, and that’s expected to continue. The average salary for a software engineer: $97,581.

Coming in third place are customer service representatives. MSN says the occupation is expected to grow faster than others and is especially good for bilingual people. The only downfall is the average salary of $29,314.

Check out the full list of CareerBuilder’s top growing professions of 2012.

WTOP’s Del Walters contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)