December 7, 1998 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Services industry has highest number of emerging occupations

The services industry reported 14 emerging occupations in 1996, more than twice as many as the next highest major industry division. Both manufacturing and finance, insurance, and real estate reported 6 emerging occupations, while wholesale trade had 5.

[Chart data—TXT]

Within services, the health industry is a prominent generator of emerging occupations. The occupations emerging in the health services field include credentials specialists and credentials evaluators; environmental engineers, environmental compliance managers, regulatory compliance managers, and environmental scientists and technicians; and volunteer coordinators and volunteer directors.

In business services, environmental scientists and volunteer coordinators were also identified as emerging, along with web masters, web site technicians, and web site coordinators; and bankruptcy specialists and bankruptcy assistants.

Social services also reported a number of emerging occupations, from resettlement coordinators and cross-cultural counselors to bilingual teachers. Consumer credit counselors also were identified as emerging in social services.

These emerging occupations are identified by the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics program. Survey employers are asked to provide a job title and description for the "all other" occupations that they believe are emerging, as defined above. OES staff reviews reports and determines which occupations are identified by BLS as emerging. Additional information is reported in Issues in Labor Statistics: New Occupations Emerging Across Industry Lines, Summary 98-11.  Detailed data, including extensive descriptions of the occupational titles, is available from "Occupational Employment and Wages, 1996," Bulletin 2506, August 1998.