The biennial update to Utah's occupational projections have been released and can be found here: http://www.jobs.utah.gov/wi/pubs/outlooks/state/index.html. But first. check out these highlights:
Ogden-Clearfield MSA
Matt
Schroeder, Regional Economist
The
following are some general highlights gleaned from the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan
Statistical Area (MSA) occupational projections:
The
projected occupational growth rate in the Ogden-Clearfield MSA (which includes
Box Elder, Davis, Morgan and Weber counties) is similar to the rest of the
state on average at 2.6 percent annually through 2024. Utah statewide projected
growth is 2.7 percent. The 12,120 projected annual openings in Ogden-Clearfield
MSA from 2014 to 2024 represent about 17 percent of all projected openings in
the state.
The occupations
with the highest growth expectations are, on average, those that require the
most education. Jobs that typically require a doctoral or professional degree
are projected to grow 3.4 percent annually through 2024. Growth in openings for
postsecondary teachers of business, criminal justice and health specialties are
the primary drivers of this trend.
Occupational
expectations in construction and production (i.e., manufacturing) are
noteworthy in the Ogden-Clearfield region as well. Both of these categories are
already supplying large numbers of annual openings and are still expected to
grow at more than 3 percent every year. Jobs in these areas typically don’t
require as much education but offer relatively good wages. Electricians, for
instance, have a strong demand outlook. They typically require an
apprenticeship but no college education, and they earn a median wage in the region
of nearly $48K per year. Machinists, similarly, are expected to have plenty of
job opportunities through 2024, while requiring only some college or long-term
on-the-job training. In the Ogden-Clearfield region, they earn a median wage of
$52K per year.
Jobs in engineering
and information technology (IT) are also expected to continue growing at more
than 3 percent annually over the next eight years; and, together, are projected
to produce nearly 600 openings per year in the region. Jobs in engineering and
IT tend to offer high wages for the level of education required. Mechanical engineers,
for instance, are in high demand (about 70 openings per year in
Ogden-Clearfield). They typically require a bachelor’s degree and earn median
wages of $81K per year. Another example is applications software developers who
make median wages of $74K per year and have job opportunities projected to grow
at 3.5 percent annually (about 40 annual openings in Ogden-Clearfield).
There are
many other occupations in the region that are projected to offer excellent
opportunities as well — industrial machinery mechanics, dental hygienists,
industrial engineers, electronics engineers and computer systems analysts to
name just a few. You can learn more about these occupations and others through
the Utah Occupational
Explorer where you can explore and compare occupations of interest in
detail by region, wage level, typical education required, projected growth and
demand. Before digging into the details though, take a look at the interactive
data visualization above to see the big picture of the occupational outlook for
the Ogden-Clearfield MSA.
About Utah's Occupational Projections
About Utah's Occupational Projections
Mark Knold,
Supervising Economist
“The
government knows everything about everyone.”
Fortunately,
that statement is not true. Yet society still looks to the government to
provide answers to comprehensive and complex questions that have their
foundation within individual decisions and activities. One subject frequently
directed toward the government is individual-level information about the
economy — particularly, what occupations are in demand, what occupations pay well
and have lucrative outlooks, and ultimately, what occupation(s) should I build
my career upon?
It takes the
accumulation of a wide array of individual information to answer these
questions. Employers provide the foundation information about the occupations
they employ. Jobs are held by individuals, but employers provide the profile
information about the job itself, not any particular individual.
Since
society desires to profile such a broad spectrum of the economy — occupational
profiles and the occupational distribution within the economy — only government
is in the unique position to collect, analyze and provide answers for said
desire. Yet, no government program or regulatory agency mandates any
comprehensive occupational reporting from individuals or businesses. Therefore,
government attempts to fill the void with an ongoing, robust and voluntary
survey of employers — a survey where employers are asked to provide details
about their various occupations, including descriptions, quantities,
wages/salaries and location. Through this survey emerges an occupational
portrait of an economy.
The U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) structures and funds the survey, yet the
individual states conduct the survey. Under BLS administration, all states use
the same methodology; therefore, occupational profiles are comparable across
states.
Through this
survey, analysts discover how industries are populated with various
occupations. Accountant is an occupation, yet accountants can be found across
many different industries. Other occupations may be more exclusive to certain
industries; for example, doctors are largely found only in the healthcare
industry. One of the survey’s products is that industries can be profiled with
their general mix of occupations. This is called an industry’s occupational
staffing pattern.
This brings
us back to the original questions: what occupations are in demand, what
occupations pay well and have lucrative outlooks, and ultimately, what
occupation(s) should I build my career upon?
The
foundation is to make informed forecasts about how industries will
expand/contract over the next 10 years. By applying existing occupational
staffing patterns to each industry’s projected change, a trained economic
analyst can then make an extrapolation about how occupations will
correspondingly increase/decrease. Knowledgeable analyst judgment further
refines the occupational expectations, such as knowing an occupation will grow
faster than in the past, with the result being a set of occupational projections
that accumulate to profile a state or regional economy.
A new set of
occupational projections are done every two years to keep the information fresh
even though economies do not change dramatically in short order. Because of
slow change, updated occupational projects generally continue the overall
message of preceding occupational projections. But economies do modify with
time, and therefore, subtle changes will arise with each new set of
occupational projections.
Utah’s most
recent occupational projections are found here: http://www.jobs.utah.gov/wi/pubs/outlooks/state/index.html.
These projections look forward to the year 2024.
The
occupational profile is structured from the general to the detailed, mimicking
the structure of a family tree. First, broad occupational categories are
defined, such as management or healthcare occupations; then, subcategories are
defined; and finally, individual occupations are defined. Individual occupations
are the heart of the occupational projections. But overall patterns and
characteristics do emerge when observing the broader categories.
While a Utah
statewide profile leads the way, Utah’s local economies are not homogenous;
therefore, nine Utah subregions are also profiled. Due to confidentiality
restraints and statistical reliability, the amount of occupations available
will diminish the smaller a subregion; but, occupations comprising the backbone
of a regional economy will be available.
