February 4th, 2010
This month Utah Stories examines how our culture is changing and asks this question: is your lifestyle becoming obsolete? And if so, is this good news or bad?
” As we enter a new decade, what careers (other than computers and healthcare) will be holding strong and showing growth?
Service-oriented jobs are projected to see sustained growth over the next 10 years. Customer service representative positions should grow over 17%, while fast food workers and retail salespersons will see 14% and 8% growth respectively. Other service occupations on the rise include landscapers and child care workers.
Some blue-collar jobs are expected to grow, including truck drivers, security guards, maintenance workers and carpenters.
There’s also good news for people interested in a more unusual career path. According to US News and World Report, these off-beat jobs were included in their top 50 jobs for 2010: funeral director, commercial pilot, urban planner, meteorologist, meeting planner, and gaming manager.
Occupation Current Status
| Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers | Expected to decline by 15 percent between 2008 and 2018. Apparel workers are among the most rapidly declining occupational groups in the economy. Increasing imports, the growing use of offshore assembly, and greater productivity through automation will contribute to additional job losses. |
| Word Processors and Data Entry Typists | Expected to decline by six percent between 2008 and 2018. Improved technologies and greater social acceptance of workers performing their own data entry and information processing work will lessen the need for these workers, except for highly detailed or sophisticated work. |
| News Analysts, Reporters, and Correspondents | Employment of news analysts, reporters, and correspondents is expected to decline 6 percent between 2008 and 2018. Many factors will contribute to the decline in this occupation. Consolidation and convergence should continue in the publishing and broadcasting industries. As a result, companies will be better able to allocate their news analysts, reporters, and correspondents to cover news stories. Since broadcasting and newspapers — the two industries employing most of these workers — are dependent on advertising revenue, employment growth will suffer during an economic downturn. |
| Computer Operators | Employment of computer operators is projected to decline rapidly (by 19%) because advances in technology are making many of the duties performed by these workers obsolete. The expanding use of software that automates computer operations gives companies the option of making systems more efficient, but greatly reduces the need for operators. |
| Farmers and Ranchers | Employment of self-employed farmers is expected to decline moderately by 8 percent over the 2008-18 decade, reflecting the decline of self-employed farmers because of the consolidation of farms and increasing productivity. The continuing ability of the agriculture sector to produce more with fewer workers will cause some farmers to go out of business as market pressures leave little room for the marginally successful farmer. |
If you enjoyed this article, see the others in our current issue below that examine the theme of obsolesence in American culture.
