Go to the BLS website and click on Occupational Outlook Handbook (Links to an ex

ID: 1161922 • Letter: G

Question

Go to the BLS website and click on Occupational Outlook Handbook (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.to explore different career options and find out more about those career options. Pick out two job titles, one which is a low-paying position and one which is a high-paying position. What do you think accounts for the difference in salaries of the different positions? Explain any careers that look particularly interesting to you and explain why/what interests you about these careers? Discuss anything that surprised you when looking at the Occupational Outlook Handbook. According to the handbook, what sectors of the economy will have the fastest job growth in the future? Include data from the website to support your answers.

Also, check the BLS website to see what the Unemployment Rate is in the U.S. right now. How does this unemployment rate reflection the current U.S. economic situation (where we are in the business cycle). Explain in detail.

Explanation / Answer

After looking at the BLS website I have found two jobs, one which is low paying position and one which is a high-paying position.

1) Low paying position:

Food preparation and serving workers:

Median annual wage-(as per data available till May 2017): $20410

2) High paying position:

Anesthesiologists:

Median annual wage-(as per data available till May 2017): $208,000

The difference in salaries is mainly due to the following reasons.

a) Education and experience required

b) Type of industry

c) Availability of skill sets

d) Demand

As we know that there is no formal education required for food preparation workers but Anesthesiologists require a post graduate or professional degree. Health care costs in US are higher as the salaries of health care professionals is higher than other sectors. Two major reason of this difference in pay is demand and skill sets. As anesthesiologists are in high demand in US due to scarcity of workers with these skills. Whereas food preparation workers are abundantly available.

I find the job of Human resource managers really interesting as it deals with protecting a company’s mission, vision, values, and guiding principles. The role requires you to interact with people at different levels. The job prospects are vast enough as they are required in nearly every industry. As per the BLS website employment of human resources managers is projected to grow 9 percent from 2016 to 2026, about as fast the average for all occupations.

As per BLS website following sectors of the economy will have the fastest job growth. ( Refer data till October 24, 2017)

Sector

Compound Annual Rate of Change

Health care and social assistance

4.4

Professional and business services

2.1

Transportation and Warehousing

2.0

Mining

2.4

Information

1.8

State and local government

1.6

Educational services

1.7

Current Unemployment Rate is in the U.S. is 3.8% which is the lowest since 2008. (Check BLS website for data extracted on July 5 2018)

This shows that currently we are in Expansion phase of business cycle, where unemployment is decreasing continuously.