You don't need to be a computer jock to take one of the hot jobs in the
next 10 years, however being able to use information technology will be
extremely helpful. The article below describes some of these career
options. There is a link at the end to the Occupational Outlook handbook.
kelly
from the January/February Utney Reader
URL: http://www.utne.com/lens98/society/hotjobs.html
_________________________________________________________________
Hot Jobs
Employed are the peacemakers, the storytellers, the healers...and you?
With the economy now on a wild roller-coaster ride, with career paths
taking sharp turns and sudden frightening drops, a lot of people are
nervousvery nervous. What will happen to your job? How do you choose a
profession that won't disappear in five years? The conventional
wisdom, re-inforced daily by the business press, is to scramble any
way you can to a field with a future: software engineering, say, or
global marketing. Otherwise, you may end up the 21st century
equivalent of a blacksmithtrained to do a job that hardly anyone
needs. But a detailed look at the job prospects of tomorrow offers a
more complicated and yet hopeful picture for people seeking an
alternative to the typical lists of "hot jobs." Take a look at the
federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook,
which forecasts 50 million new jobs opening up by the year 2006, a net
increase of 14 percent over 1996. Surely, there's something in there
for you. It's easy to get lost in the bureau's minutiae and the wacky
job titles (head sawyers, down 10 percent; shampooers, up 7 percent).
But if you look long enough, patterns begin to emerge. The job outlook
is bleak for people who do not acquire specialized skills
(farmworkers, down 9 percent) or cannot adapt to technological change
(telephone operators, down 9 percent). But it's much brighter for
folks seeking something other than life as a computer jockey or
corporate honcho. If you can heal people, resolve conflicts, or tell a
good story, for instance, a good job is probably waiting.
Healing
These may account for 14 of the 30 fastest-growing jobs in the next
decade. The 77 million baby boomers, now ages 36 to 53, are enduring
an increasing burden of minor aches and chronic conditions, and their
woes will create millions of new jobs for healers. As aging boomers
search for relief, they will look beyond traditional Western medicine.
The number of nationally certified massage therapists in the United
States has quadrupled since 1990, according to the American Massage
Therapy Association. The need for healing also will go beyond easing
physical pain. Depression and major life changes become more prevalent
in middle age, which is why the number of counseling therapists is
projected to increase dramatically. And even the most well-adjusted
50-year-olds find themselves paying more attention to spiritual
matters once a parent or close friend dies. The number of jobs for
directors of religious activities and education in churches and
temples may increase 36 percent. In all, over 100,000 new jobs for
clergy and religious directors are expected between 1996 and 2006.
Peacemakers
The government expects the number of lawyers to increase 19 percent in
the next decade, while the number of judges may increase only 2
percent. The result will be worsening gridlock in the courts. At the
same time, the demand for simpler, more humane ways of resolving
disputes will increase for another reason. A pioneer generation of
college-educated women joined the labor force in the 1970s and 1980s
and is finally entering the ranks of top management. As managers,
women are more likely than men to talk through conflicts instead of
reaching for a hired gun. The first storefront businesses offering
dispute mediation opened in the mid-1970s. Ten years ago, there were
about 150 such centers; today there are at least 500 in the United
States, and perhaps many more than that.
Storytellers
The explosion of media choices in the past decade includes the
Internet, but it extends to cable television, CD-ROMs, home videos,
specialty magazines, and other forms of entertainment. Thanks to the
middle-aging of the population and rising education levels, the share
of Americans who go to a concert, play, or art museum at least once a
year rose from 41 percent in 1992 to 50 percent in 1997, according to
the National Endowment for the Arts. And by several measures,
entertainment is America's most powerful export product.
The Bureau of Labor expects that the demand for writers, artists, and
entertainers will increase 24 percent over the next decade, with a
total of 772,000 new jobs in those fields. The bureau projects a 33
percent increase in the number of jobs for musicians, 28 percent
increases for artists/commercial artists and dancers/choreographers,
and 26 percent for designers and interior designers. If you can tell a
good story in music, movement, or pictures, someone probably wants to
hire you.
For people who tell their stories in words, the forecast is partly
cloudy. Overall, the number of jobs for writers and editors is
expected to increase at a good clip (21 percent). Yet this is a
catchall category that includes everyone from the most exalted
novelist (not many jobs available) to the lowliest writer of technical
manuals (many more jobs available). The government apparently expects
happy talk to do well, too: The number of jobs in public relations is
expected to increase 27 percent. Yet the number of jobs for
old-fashioned journalists (print and broadcast reporters) is expected
to decline 3 percent. Yikes.
Won't you take a moment and renew your subscription today?
Brad Edmondson
Brad Edmondson lives in Ithaca, New York. The 199899 edition of the
Occupational Outlook Handbook is available for free at
www.bls.gov/ocohome.htm.
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