July/August
2001
CAREERS
IN TRANSPORTATION
Moving Everyone and Everything - Everywhere
In the first article of this issue, "HELP WANTED - Meeting the
Need for Tomorrow's Transportation Work Force," Clark Martin
discusses a critical problem facing the transportation industry, including
both the public and private sectors. Transportation professionals
and workers are going to be retiring in droves over the next 15 years
as the Baby Boomer generation leaves the work force.
This situation will affect almost every career field. For example,
a Senate subcommittee found that by 2004, a staggering 53 percent
of the federal work force (900,000 employees) will be eligible to
retire, and the Government Accounting Office "has added the work
force problem to the list of the government's 'high-risk' areas."
And it's not just a federal problem. The Rockefeller Institute of
Government "estimates that a full 40 percent of the state and
local government employees will be eligible to retire in the next
15 years." The institute calls the situation the most "significant
talent and brain drain ever experienced by government."
The challenge is not simply to replace these retirees but, as Martin
explains, to recruit replacements among a "new generation of
employees [who] will bring a different set of priorities, values,
and talents into the work place.
[And] the competition for
qualified professionals will be fierce, as almost every sector of
business, industry, and government grapples with the same problem."
Martin goes on to describe some of the ways in which the Federal Highway
Administration is addressing the challenge. Because we are all affected
in many ways, including economically, by the efficiency of our national
transportation system, it is to our advantage individually, as well
as collectively, to do everything we can to encourage young people
to consider careers in transportation.
Serendipitously, a co-worker discovered and told me about a Web site
that should be perused by all teenagers as they contemplate their
futures. The "Careers in Transportation" site (http://dothr.ost.dot.gov/Employment_Opportunities/employment_opportunities.html)
is part of the Web site for the Departmental Office of Human Resource
Management of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and it
"describes occupations in transportation fields. It was designed
primarily to provide young people with a general description, salary
range, and educational requirements of various transportation occupations."
The site includes a welcome from Secretary of Transportation Norman
Y. Mineta. He says, "We want you to help us build the transportation
systems of the future, and we want to help you develop the math, science,
and technology skills needed for tomorrow's transportation jobs. As
part of the [Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures]
program, the Department of Transportation has prepared this handbook
to help you learn more about the exciting careers in transportation."
The site also describes existing partnership programs in which DOT
participates, including summer internships, summer transportation
institutes, the Eisenhower Fellowship Program (see the article on
page 13), on-the-job training, and the Urban Youth Corps. Points of
contact are provided for each program.
But I think the most useful part of the Web site is the description
of 33 transportation career fields organized in seven categories.
These careers run the gamut from brake operators on a train to urban/regional
planners. The urban and regional planners page, for example, explains
the types of jobs available in the field, the training needed, and
the expected salary range, and it provides fairly substantial responses
to the questions: How many people are urban and regional planners?
What's it like to be a planner? How do I become a planner?
I encourage you to check it out. More importantly, I encourage you
to recommend it to your young relatives, friends, and acquaintances
and to school teachers and counselors, too.
Bob Bryant
Editor
Other
Articles in this Issue:
HELP
WANTED - Meeting the Need for Tomorrow's Transportation Work Force
The
Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program: Preparing
for the Future of Transportation
The
Millennium Manual Matters
QuickZone
Iowa's
Approach to Environmental Stewardship
Moveable
Barrier Solves Work-Zone Dilemma
Learning
From the Big Dig
A
Light at the End of the Tunnel
International
Cooperation to Prevent Collisions at Intersections
Pay
Attention - Buckle Up: Safe Driving Is a Full-Time Job