The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released has released the 2014-2015 Occupational Outlook Handbook as well as its employment projections for 2012-2022:
- 50.6 million total job openings are predicted over the decade; more than two-thirds will come from workers who retire or otherwise permanently leave an occupation.
- Overall labor force participation is expected to decline from 63.7 to 61.6 percent.
- About 35 percent of jobs by 2022 will require postsecondary education in some form. In addition, 19 of the 30 fastest-growing occupations will require postsecondary education.
- Occupations requiring an apprenticeship are expected to grow about 22 percent.
- The four occupational groups expected to grow more than 20 percent include health care support occupations, health care practitioners and technical occupations, construction and extraction occupations, and personal care and service occupations.
According to Anthony Carnevale of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, as reported in the Education Week Inside School Research blog, the BLS has seriously underestimated the percentage of jobs that will require postsecondary education. The Center, in its recent report on the workforce through 2020, estimates that about 65 percent of the workforce will need at least some postsecondary education.
With the help of high-quality CTE that prepares them for college and careers, CTE students can excel no matter which projections turns out to be closer to fact.
Comments