The Jobs Market in the Next Decade

I am catching up on my reading and did this little analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics for jobs growth 2008-2018:

Seven of 10 jobs projected to have largest growth in next decade likely will not pay a living wage.  Five of those jobs require only "short-term on-the-job training."  One requires only "moderate on-the-the job training."  One requires a "post-secondary vocational award."

Low wage jobs among the ten fastest growing occupations over the next decade include home health aide, customer service representative, personal and home care aides, retail salesperson, general office clerks, nursing aides/orderlies/attendants.  Good paying jobs are registered nurses, accountants/auditors, postsecondary teachers.

In fact, a projected additional 4,197,000 jobs in next decade will require only short-term on-the-job training.  Another 1,963,000 jobs will require only moderate-term on-the-job training.

However, a projected 4,797,000 additional jobs will require a Bachelor's degree or more. 

Only an additional 1,168,000 jobs will require an Associate's degree, and another 1,164,000 jobs will need a postsecondary vocational award (which would likely also be earned at a community college), for a total of 2,332,000.

That's according to projections, of course.  The public policy questions are will we have to provide permanent subsidies to a growing number of low wage workers and if so, what politically palatable form will that take?  And, if we push to get all citizens to acquire more education, will that naturally push the economy to create more, better-paying jobs?   We'd better work toward the latter because the alternative is quite depressing.

  

J21, December 31, 2009

Getting more education will only drive pay down. Its basic supply and demand. You cant have a economy where the population is 65 to 75% college educated and expect the economy to continue producing high income jobs. What will happen is that more people will become self employed because salaries will not be able to keep up with inflation.

steve, January 5, 2010

we are finding that a lot of people are becoming self-employed. While not all of these jobs provide the "living wage" from the start, they can soon become lucrative and provide meaningful employment. http://tinyurl.com/yefsauo

Link: www.pedicab.com

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