Best-Selling Career Reference Forecasts the Future Job Market
The most popular career reference ever, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, is hitting book shelves in a new 2008-2009 edition. Packed with updates, this authoritative resource has changed significantly from previous editions to include some surprising information about today's job market.
Indianapolis, IN (PRWEB) April 8, 2008 -- In the midst of a shaky economy, everyone is wondering how the job market will weather the current economic climate. Rather than guessing whether or not the job market and their careers will maintain stability in the years to come, people can see for themselves what's in store for the working world in the recently-released Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-2009.
As America's leading career reference for more than 50 years, this authoritative resource sheds light on emerging trends in the job market and offers growth projections through 2016. Based on the most current, up-to-date occupational information, this edition of the OOH has made significant changes to their job-growth projections since the previous 2006-2007 edition.
According to Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., a senior product developer at JIST Publishing, "Some occupations are now expected to grow considerably faster than was previously expected, notably those in the Finance and Insurance and Human Service clusters. Overall, however, projections for job growth now are a little less optimistic than two years ago, especially in the Manufacturing and Retail and Wholesale Sales and Service clusters. Job-growth forecasts also have been cut back, though to a lesser extent, for the high-flying Health Science and Education and Training clusters."
Service Providing Industries on the Rise
The new OOH also predicts that service-providing industries will fair the strongest in upcoming years, while goods-producing sectors experience a decline. In fact, service-providing industries will generate almost all of the employment gain and will provide more than three-quarters of all jobs in 2016. The only goods-producing sector expected to grow, however, is construction.
"The U.S. economy has shifted toward service industries such as health care and hospitality. As a result, more and more opportunities will be found in jobs that involve a lot of interpersonal contact, and chances to work alone will become more scarce," says Shatkin.
Expect a More Diverse Workforce
In addition to providing information about more than 270 jobs, the OOH also offers insight about the future workforce. Based on feedback from economic forecasters, the OOH includes the following projections about the 10-year period ending in 2016:
| | - The labor force will become more racially and ethnically diverse, despite growing more slowly than in the past.
- The number of workers in the 55-and-older group is expected to grow by almost 47 percent.
- The number of prime-age workers--those between 25 and 54 years old--will increase by 2.4 percent, but their share of the labor force will decline from 68.4 to 64.4 percent.
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About the Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-2009
The OOH is America's most widely used and dependable resource for career information. Packed with 270 job descriptions, the OOH includes essential facts about each job's earnings, training and education requirements, job growth, and much more. JIST Publishing's version of this best-selling resource is the most accurate version available--free of hundreds of errors found in other online and print versions.
This occupational reference is available at all major bookstores and from the publisher (www.jist.com or 1.800.648.JIST). For a free media copy or to speak with Laurence Shatkin and The Editors at JIST, contact Natalie Ostrom.
JIST, America's Career Publisher, is a division of EMC/Paradigm Publishing and is the leading publisher of job search, career, occupational information, life skills and character education books, workbooks, assessments, videos and software.
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