Despite the tougher employment situation as 2.8 million more students are graduating from universities than in 2013, new graduates are expecting higher salaries.

51job Inc, one of China's biggest human resource service providers, released a report on Tuesday called The Employment Situation of University Graduates 2014.

The report, based on a survey of more than 100,000 students and 613 companies nationwide, found that 52 percent of recent graduates from key universities expect a starting monthly salary of 6,000 yuan ($974) to 8,000 yuan, up 9 percent from the year before.

Nearly 10 percent of respondents said they hope for more than 10,000 yuan per month, and the rest expect 2,000 to 4,000 yuan.

According to the report, the top three features that college graduates look for in potential employers are good commercial brand, a management team that helps personal development, and corporate culture that encourages innovation.

Enterprises are hard-pressed to meet the students' growing appetite. The survey found that the costs of campus recruitment have risen more than 7 percent since 2012. This year, the per-capita cost of recruitment reached 3,204 yuan.

Besides rising costs, HR managers also suffer a lot from breach of contract. More than 40 percent of new graduates break their contracts, the survey found.