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Where the Jobs Are
Technology will change workforce mix through 2008
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Business New Haven
5/14/2001
By:
BNH
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The state's Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD) have undertaken to chart the course of the state's future workforce needs. Between 1998 and 2008, a new state study finds, Connecticut's economy will add 170,000 new jobs, a 9.7-percent increase. Over the same period, an additional 412,000 openings will develop to replace workers who depart the workforce.
The big question is: Where will those jobs be?
Not surprisingly, given the rapid growth of the research-and-development and information-technology industries, occupations within the professional fields are projected to grow at twice the rate of all occupations. At the same time, the need for unskilled and semi-skilled workers will decline, in some cases precipitously.
Likewise, advances in technology will skew the workforce needs of companies in the state. The need for systems analysts, computer specialists and computer engineers is projected to grow six times faster than most occupations. Conversely, typists and word-processors, bookkeeping and procurement clerks and even secretaries will continue to be displaced by new technologies.
Nevertheless, the relatively older median age of workers in Connecticut means that for every job opening created by growth, two more will become available to refill vacant positions.
For example, DOL and DECD project that machinists in Connecticut will lose more than 300 positions over the ten-year time span of the study. But the need to replace workers in that field will result in nearly 100 openings annually.
Professional and technical occupations will grow at the fastest rate (17.6 percent) and create the most new jobs, 74,630, over the projection period. With more than 420,000 jobs in this group, professional and technical workers now account for about one-quarter of total employment and 27 percent of total anticipated job openings.
The largest loser will be administrative support positions, which are projected to decline from their current level of 17 percent to 15.8 percent of all jobs over the period of the study.
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