Tomorrow's Jobs

Following are excerpts from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 edition published by the U.S Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Click here to view the complete Handbook

Making informed career decisions requires reliable information about opportunities in the future. Opportunities result from the relationships between the population, labor force, and the demand for goods and services.

Service-providing industries

Employment in professional, scientific, and technical services will grow by 27.8 percent and add 1.9 million new jobs by 2012. Employment in computer systems design and related services will grow by 54.6 percent and add more than one-third of all new jobs in professional, scientific, and technical services. Employment growth will be driven by the increasing reliance of businesses on information technology and the continuing importance of maintaining system and network security. Management, scientific, and technical consulting services also will grow very rapidly, by 55.4 percent, spurred by the increased use of new technology and computer software and the growing complexity of business.

Information

Employment in the information supersector is expected to increase by 18.5 percent, adding 632,000 jobs by 2012. Information contains some of the fast-growing computer-related industries such as software publishers; Internet publishing and broadcasting; and Internet service providers, Web search portals, and data processing services. Employment in these industries is expected to grow by 67.9 percent, 41.1 percent, and 48.2 percent, respectively. The information supersector also includes telecommunications, broadcasting, and newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers. Increased demand for residential and business land-line and wireless services, cable service, high-speed Internet connections, and software will fuel job growth among these industries.

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Professional and related occupations

Professional and related occupations will grow the fastest and add more new jobs than any other major occupational group. Over the 2002-12 period, a 23.3- percent increase in the number of professional and related jobs is projected, a gain of 6.5 million. Professional and related workers perform a wide variety of duties, and are employed throughout private industry and government. About three-quarters of the job growth will come from three groups of professional occupations—computer and mathematical occupations, healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, and education, training, and library occupations—which will add 4.9 million jobs combined.

Among all occupations in the economy, computer and healthcare occupations are expected to grow the fastest over the projection period (chart 7). In fact, healthcare occupations make up 10 of the 20 fastest growing occupations, while computer occupations account for 5 out of the 20 fastest growing occupations in the economy. In addition to high growth rates, these 15 computer and healthcare occupations combined will add more than 1.5 million new jobs. High growth rates among computer and healthcare occupations reflect projected rapid growth in the computer and data processing and health services industries.

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Education and training

Among the 20 fastest growing occupations, a bachelor’s or associate degree is the most significant source of education or training for 10 of them—network systems and data communications analysts; physician assistants; medical records and health information technicians; computer software engineers, applications; computer software engineers, systems software; physical therapist assistants; database administrators; veterinary technologists and technicians; dental hygienists; and computer systems analysts.

Total job openings

Professional and related occupations are projected to grow faster and add more jobs than any other major occupational group, with 6.5 million new jobs by 2012. Three-fourths of the job growth in professional and related occupations is expected among computer and mathematical occupations; healthcare practitioners and technical occupations; and education, training, and library occupations.

Table 1.
Fastest growing occupations and occupations projected to have the largest numerical increases in employment between 2002 and 2012, by level of education or training

Fastest growing occupations

Occupations having the largest numeric job growth

Doctoral degree
Postsecondary teachers Computer and information scientists, research Medical scientists, except epidemiologists Clinical, counseling, and school psychologists Biochemists and biophysicists	Postsecondary teachers Clinical, counseling, and school psychologists Medical scientists, except epidemiologists Computer and information scientists, research Biochemists and biophysicists
Bachelor’s or higher degree, plus work experience
Computer and information systems managers Education administrators, preschool and childcare center/program Sales managers Management analysts Medical and health services managers	General and operations managers Management analysts Financial managers Sales managers Computer and information systems managers
Bachelor’s degree
Network systems and data communications analysts Physician assistants Computer software engineers, applications Computer software engineers, systems software Database administrators	Elementary school teachers, except special education Accountants and auditors Computer systems analysts Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education Computer software engineers, applications

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For the complete table click here and view page 9.