Today’s Jobs Outlook For 2021 And Beyond

It’s Time To Move Forward With More Jobs!

Making informed career decisions about jobs outlook for 2021 requires reliable information about opportunities available in the future.

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This post presents highlights of Bureau of Labor Statistics projections of industry and occupational employment and the labor force, that can help guide your career plans.

A Slowdown In Employment Growth Is Expected For Jobs Outlook 2021

Over the 2021-2025 period, employment is projected to decrease.

Wage and salary worker employment will also decrease, while the number of unpaid family workers will decline.

Service Producing Industries Will Account For Most New Jobs

Employment growth is projected to be highly concentrated by industry.

The services and retail trade industries will account for a large portion of growth in wage and salary jobs.

Business, health, and education services is projecting growth in wage and salary jobs.

Health care services factor contributing, continued growth, which include the aging population, which will continue to require more services, and the increased use of innovative medical technology for intensive diagnosis and treatment.

Patients will increasingly be shifted out of hospitals and into outpatient facilities to contain costs.

The personal supply services, which provides temporary help to employers in other industries, is projected to add jobs.

Temporary workers tend to have low wages, low job stability, and poor job benefits.

The Goods Producing Sector Will Decline

The goods producing sector faces declining employment in two of its four industries, such as manufacturing and mining.

Employment in the other two industries, such as construction, and agriculture, forestry, and fishing is expected to decline.

Employment in manufacturing is expected to continue to decline over the 2021-2025 period.

Operators, fabricators, and laborers, and precision production, craft, and repair occupations are expected to account for more of these lost jobs.

Systems analysts and other computer-related occupations in manufacturing are expected to increase.

Job Opportunities Can Arise By Job Growth And Replacement Needs

Job growth can be measured by percent change and numerical change.

The fastest growing occupations do not necessarily provide the largest number of jobs.

Even though an occupation is expected to grow rapidly, it may provide fewer openings than a slower growing, larger occupation.

Opportunities in large occupations are enhanced by the additional job openings resulting from the need to replace workers who leave the occupation.

Some workers leave the occupation as they are promoted or change careers; others stop working to return to school, assume household responsibilities, or retire.

Replacement needs are greater in occupations with low pay and status, low training requirements, and a high proportion of young and part-time workers.

Replacement needs will account for millions of openings projected to arise from employment growth.

Employment Change Will Vary Widely By Broad Occupational Group

Employment in professional specialty occupations is projected to increase at a faster rate than any other major occupational group.

Among the major occupational groups, employment in professional specialty occupations is also projected to account for the most job growth from 2021-2025.

Professional specialty occupations, which require high educational attainment and offer high earnings; and service occupations, which require lower educational attainment and offer lower earnings are expected to account for more than half of all job growth between 2021 and 2025.

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and related occupations is the only major occupational group projected to decline.

All job openings in this group will stem from replacement needs.

Office automation is expected to have a significant effect on many individual administrative and clerical support occupations.

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations and operators, fabricators, and laborers are projected to grow much more slowly than average due to continuing advance s in technology, changes in production methods, and the overall decline in manufacturing employment.

Fifteen Occupations Will Account For Half Of Of All Job Growth Over 2021-2025 Period

The fifteen occupations accounting for half of all job growth over the 2021-2025 period tend to be large in size rather than fast growing, such as health care occupations, and education-related occupations.

Fastest Growing Occupations Reflect Growth In Computer Technology And Health Service

Many of the fastest growing occupations are concentrated in health services, which is expected to increase more than twice as fast as the economy as a whole.

Personal and home care aides, and home health aides, are expected to be in great demand to provide personal and physical care for an increasing number elderly people and for persons who are recovering from surgery and other serious health conditions.

This is occurring as hospitals and insurance companies mandate shorter stays for recovery to contain costs.

Employment of computer engineers and systems analysis is expected to grow rapidly to satisfy expanding needs for scientific research and applications of computer technology in business and industry.

Declining Occupational Employment Stems From Declining Industry Employment And Technological Change

Farmers, garment sewing machine operators, and private household cleaners and servants are examples of occupations that will lose employment because of declining industry employment.

Many declining occupations are affected by structural changes, resulting from technological advances, organizational changes, and other factors that affecct the em ployment of workers.

Education And Training Affect Job Opportunities

Workers in jobs with low education and training requirements tend to have greater occupational mobility.

Consequently, these jobs will provide a larger than proportional share of all job openings stemming from replacement needs.

Jobs requiring the most education and training will grow faster than jobs with lower education and training requirements.

Higher Education And Training Jobs Will Be Fastest Growing And Highest Paying

Occupations which require a bachelor’s degree or above will aver more growth.

Occupations that pay above average wages are projected to grow faster than occupations with below average wages.

Jobs with above average wages are expected to account for most employment growth over the 2021-2025 period.

Jobs with higher earnings often require higher levels of education and training.

Education is important in getting a high paying job.

However, many occupations, for example, registered nurses, blue-collar worker supervisors, electrical and electronic technicians/technologists, carpenters, and police and detectives do not require a college degree, yet offer higher than average earnings.

Groups in the labor force with lower than average educational attainment in the 20th century, including Hispanics and blacks, will continue to have difficulty obtaining a share of the high paying jobs that is consistent with their share of the labor force, unless their educational attainment rises.

Although high paying jobs will be available without college training, most jobs that pay above average wages will require a college degree.

Educational services are projected to increase; and most jobs will be for teachers.

Least Education Jobs And Training Will Provide The Most Openings And Lowest Pay

The distribution of jobs by education and training, and earnings, will change little over the 2021-2025 period, with jobs requiring the least amount of education and training, and generally offering low pay, continuing to account for about 4 of every 10 jobs.

Jobs which require moderate-length and short-term training and experience will provide over half of the total job openings over the 2021-2025 period.

Labor Force Will Continue To Grow Faster Than The Population

Spurred by the growing proportion of women who work, the labor force will grow slightly faster than the population over the 2021-2025 period.

Women will continue to comprise an increasing share of the labor force.

The number of men in the labor force is projected to grow, but at a slower rate than in the past, in part reflecting declining employment in good-paying production jobs in manufacturing, and a continued shift in demand for workers from the goods-producing sector to the service-producing sector.

Men with less education and training may find it increasingly difficult to obtain jobs consistent with their experience.

Labor Force Will Become Increasingly Diverse

The number of Hispanics, and Asians and other races, will increase much faster than blacks and white non-Hispanics.

Blacks will increase faster than white non-Hispanics.

Despite relatively slow growth, resulting in a declining share of the labor force, white non-Hispanics will still make up the vast majority of workers in jobs outlook 2021.

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