If you want to change or improve your career, where are the jobs? Whether you are in manufacturing, supply chain, or other industry, jobs are available and you need to stay abreast of the growth and decline. Take a look at a few statistics to discover where the jobs are.
Manufacturing
Recently Douglas Woods, President of the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), stated, “After suffering the worst downturn since the Great Recession, manufacturing has been the driver leading the economic recovery. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, manufacturing has made up 26% of economic growth since 2009 and has added close to half a million jobs since 2010. In that time, real manufacturing output has grown 16% and productivity has increased 15%.” Jobs are abundant in manufacturing.
Construction and Health Care
Construction products are booming in some areas of the country. Houses cannot be built fast enough in parts of Texas and some northern states, requiring the supply chain to quickly move products to places like Lowe’s and Home Depot.
Look at openings in Dallas, home to many corporate headquarters. Although many are in health care, you may not need any health care credentials for some openings.
1. Texas Health Resources: 1,623 job openings
2. HCA: 1,219 job openings
3. Baylor Health Care: 979 job openings
4. Pizza Hut: 921 job openings
5. Methodist Health Care Systems: 704 job openings
3D Printing
The Motley Fool provides a video on the merits of 3D printing, pointing out that its infancy may be faster than acceptance of home computers. We may all want 3D printers in a few years. Health care manufacturing is bound to change with this forward thinking innovation. Manufacturing will change. Are you ready? Might you need some training?
Mixed Messages
Is the economy thriving or diving? Detroit is going bankrupt but some innovative companies in Detroit are hiring, despite their woes. In a recent TV newscast, a reporter ranted about the enormous amount of crime in Chicago, which is harming its image and business atmosphere, yet Chicago is listed in the top 10 list of cities. Who can you trust? Who can you blame?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) posts statistics regularly. You can check unemployment statistics near you at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/metro.pdf; however, statistics don’t show the people who have dropped off the grid and are no longer looking. Just because geographic stats show low unemployment rates, does not mean the area has openings for your skills. For example, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana have many openings, but very few would qualify or be willing to move for the jobs.
Top cities hiring, according to Entrepreneur Magazine article by Jenna Goudreau, published 6/21/2013 are:
New York City
Chicago
Los Angeles
Washington, D.C
San Francisco
Dallas
Boston
Atlanta
Houston
Philadelphia
Trust your instincts, rather than bury your head in the sand. Looking at the evidence, the economy is shaky, but there is no better day than today to work diligently toward changing or improving your career. What’s next? Realize you are in charge of your career, not the economy.