This week, New Hampshire's department of employment security released their most recent round of job projections in the state. The report looks at what occupations are expected to be most available in New Hampshire between the years 2002 and 2012. Topping the list are jobs in the service industry; like sales clerks, waiters, or cashiers. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Rebecca Kaufman has more.
Every two years, New Hampshire’s department of employment security releases a job forecast for the state.
The department’s Peter Bartlett says the purpose of the projections is to help people make decisions about what occupations to pursue.
13:37 whether its individuals thinking about their own careers or education professionals planning curriculum that will prepare people for careers, it has to do with what our expectations are for occupational demand in the future
So according to the department’s projections, people thinking about starting a new career in New Hampshire might want to consider the health care industry.
Dennis Delay is an economist with New Hampshire’s Workforce Opportunity Council.
Since the last projections two years ago, Delay says growth in health care jobs has actually exceeded expectations.
3:39 health care is one of the big ones whether we’re talking about doctors or health care support like primary care nursing or in home nursing, high end of health care or low end of health care, the real message is we will have significantly increased expectations in health care field
Out of the 25 jobs forecasted to grow the fastest, 15 are in health care.
But occupations expected to grow are different from occupations expected to have the most openings.
If people are simply looking for a job, the best bet might be to look to the service industry.
According to the report, retail salespersons, cashiers, waiters and waitresses should be in demand more than any other occupation.
That means typically lower paying jobs will be the leading occupations in the state.
15:37 everybody jumps to the conclusion that that means the economy suffers or people suffers as a result of that
Economist Dennis Delay.
15:49 but the problem with that logic is those jobs have always been among the fastest growing yet in the last 20 or so years New Hampshire income per capita has gone from being in the middle of pack to the sixth highest in the country
Delay says service sector jobs are in demand, and unlike others, your hairdresser can’t be replaced by technology or outsourced.
He says he see them as stepping stone jobs for mostly younger workers.
18:40 what really happens to people in the course of their lives and careers is they move up from the lower wage occupations to the higher ones over the course of their careers.
1:17 have you ever seen the janitor promoted to be a department manager, or the people who mops the floors at the hospital to be a registered nurse
That’s Betsy Leondar-Wright from the organization United for a Fair Economy.
She says all across the country lower paying service jobs are on the rise and good paying blue collar jobs are on the decline.
:43 that’s what disappearing off the landscape and so if you are not an aero space engineer and you’re likely to end up as a cashier that’s a very scary economy to raise a family
In New Hampshire, many of those jobs forecasted to continue disappearing are ones that can be replaced by new technology or outsourced….like jobs in information technology or manufacturing.
Since the last projections two years ago, New Hampshire has lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs.
And while certain IT jobs like data communications analysts or computers software engineers are expected to grow, IT jobs are not growing as quickly as predicted two years ago.
Emily Kawano from the organization the Center for Popular Economics says overall she sees the job forecast in New Hampshire as a mixed bag.
6:58 I’m sure some states are going to worse off because they’re seeing no job growth at all, its very stagnant or maybe they’re losing job, the fact that there is job growth is one plus, the fact that its service sector jobs, bulk are low wage jobs certainly puts a damper on the picture
For NHPR news, I’m RK
