Today's Job Market

The Good News

In today's job market, job seekers have been inundated with news about marked declines and limited job availability. Businesses are closing, downsizing, and reporting massive layoffs. All in all, several local and national factors will affect the amount of available job openings and how you can succeed in landing your next position.

To succeed as a job-seeker it is important to be armed with effective tools, such as a professional resume, interviewing skills, a positive outlook, and knowledge of the job market. Fortunately, there is a wealth of resources at your fingertips, including professional resume writing services and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook, or OOH. The OOH's latest job growth projections span 2006 to 2016, and it calls our attention to a silver lining in today's job market.

While the data provided highlights job types that will increase and sectors that will shrink, it appears one factor favors job seekers across most industries—the need to replace workers that move to different occupations, retire, or stop working for other reasons. This translates into an important factor in the amount of available job openings. According to the BLS: "Net replacement needs for all occupations over the 2006-2016 period are expected to total 33.4 million job openings, as opposed to 17.4 million due to growth."1

For example, consider that "jobs in health care and social assistance are expected to have the fastest rate of growth over the next 10 years, adding a projected 4.0 million new wage and salary jobs."2 In fact, nurses alone will add more than half a million jobs in the coming years.3

If you're not targeting health care, or many of the other industries expected to grow over the next ten years such as Information Technology, the outlook is not as bad as the media would have you believe. The BLS tells us that "the need to replace workers who retire will create openings for workers of all education levels."4

By taking advantage of the opportunities, having a clear plan, and utilizing career services resources, the job search process may be more fruitful. With a professional resume, you are in position to hit the ground running in your job search.

Ultimately, while recent economic factors have significantly impacted employment opportunities and increased competition, the good news is that by remaining informed and presenting oneself as the strongest candidate with an effective, well-written resume, you will stand out from the competition.

  1. http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2007/11/art5full.pdf "Occupational Employment Projections to 2016" Arlene Dohm and Lynn Shniper
  2. Ibid
  3. Ibid
  4. "Job Outlook by Education, 2006-16" Drew Liming and Michael Wolf


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