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November, 2001, Vol. 124, No. 11

Occupational employment projections to 2010

Daniel E. Hecker

Total employment is projected to increase by 22.2 million jobs over the 2000–10 period, rising to 167.8 million, according to the latest projections of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This increase represents about a million more jobs than were added over the previous 10-year period (1990–2000). The projected 15.2-percent increase, however, is less than the 17.1-percent increase of the previous 10-year period.¹  Self employed is projected to grow from 11.5 to 11.7 million, or 1.7 percent.

The economy will continue generating jobs for workers at all levels of education and training, although growth rates are projected to be faster, on average, for occupations generally requiring a postsecondary award (a vocational certificate or other award or an associate or higher degree), than for occupations requiring less education or training. Most new jobs, however, will arise in occupations that require only work-related training (on-the-job training or work experience in a related occupation), even though these occupations are projected to grow more slowly, on average. This reflects the fact that these occupations accounted for about 7 out of 10 jobs in 2000.

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Footnotes
1 Occupational projections presented in this article provide information to those interested in labor market issues. They also provide the background for analyses of future employment opportunities described in the forthcoming 2002–03 Occupational Outlook Handbook. The Internet version of this edition of the Handbook, which will be accessible at http://www.bls.gov/emp, is expected to be available in December 2001; the print version of the 2002–03 Handbook, BLS Bulletin 2540, should be available in early 2002. Job outlook information in the 2002-03 Handbook will use the projections presented in each of the articles in this issue of the Monthly Labor Review. For a description of the methodology used to develop employment projections, see BLS Handbook of Methods, Bulletin 2490 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 1997), pp. 122–29. 

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