December 27, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Fast-growing industries vs. fast-going industries

The four industries with the highest projected annual rates of employment change through 2008 are computer and data processing services, miscellaneous health services, residential care, and management and public relations services.

Industries with fastest growing and declining wage and salary employment, 1998-2008
[Chart data—TXT]

These fast-growing industries will expand at annual rates well over 2-1/2 times that of overall employment in the 1998-2008 period. The most rapidly declining industries are expected to be crude petroleum, natural gas and gas liquids; apparel manufacturing; coal mining; and non-rubber footwear manufacturing. The projected average annual rates of decline in these industries all exceed 4 percent.

Projections of the labor force and the industrial and occupational composition of employment are a product of the Employment Projections program. Find out more in "Industry output and employment", by Allison Thomson, Monthly Labor