The article that this post covers was compiled by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). It was done in the Summer of 2013 under Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) in the US. The article in review for this assignment is titled “College to career: Projected job openings in occupations that typically require a bachelor’s degree.” The article’s main thesis is that having a college major has a low chance of getting one unemployed because many job openings require bachelor’s degrees. The main ideas are centered on the way graduates have higher chances of earning more than less educated people in fields such as engineering, medicine, computer science, and art. The thesis of the article is that there are many job openings that college graduates can fit in where the fields pay depending with the specialization.
The author has given various evidence-based assertions regarding career paths for different college graduates. For instance, a degree holder in the business-related field is likely to be unemployed by only 9% (Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 2013). Additionally, the author has shown that humanities are likely to get one unemployed among all the disciplines. The rate of graduates who are likely to be unemployed in computer science and mathematics is less than 5%, as shown by the author in figure 1 below. According to the author, many job openings require a bachelor’s degree in the future.
BLS classified the occupations depending on education, skills, and training divisions. However, each job depends on the work experience, demand, and grouping that determine the wages, training, and demand in the market. The author has given an example of about 1.5 million job openings between 2010 and 2020, where most jobs involve interacting with people such as teaching, healthcare, insurance, and sales and marketing (Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 2013). In this case, computer systems analyst jobs were projected to be about 222,500 during the same period, while actuaries have about 18,900 openings (Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 2013). Regarding earnings, engineering jobs are likely to pay higher, followed by computer science, while education and humanities take the last positions in that order.
Since the article was written in 2013, many projections have come to pass. I agree that many job openings have been witnessed in the last ten years, as the author had forecasted in the article. The US unemployment rate has dropped to 3.7% for graduates except during the start of the current pandemic. The economy has significantly stabilized, giving more hope to many job seekers (Luitel & Mahar, 2022). I do not agree with the author about the annual salary for various majors as predicted.
Despite engineering and computer science paying well, social sciences have also evolved. For instance, an established professional psychiatrist is likely to earn more than a software developer, depending on the specialization and network created while working (Morita, 2017). As the author suggested, experience determines how a career pays because a manager will be paid than a fresh graduate. Thus, some of the assertions by the author may not apply in the contemporary employment field. However, it is hard to dispute that cloud computing and artificial intelligence jobs are among the top openings, as well as sales leadership (Luitel & Mahar, 2022). That is relevant because the author had foreseen it and it is applying in many job openings.
The article’s implication is that the employment fields are vast, which means there is an expected expansion of opportunities in the future. It also means that as time passes, many openings shall ensue in the market, especially concerning computer and digital applications. The article’s main idea can tell that the US is transforming into a more skilled country than before. The gap in research concerns the feasibility of stable job sustainability because the diversity in occupations might require one to have a special talent or skill. Thus, researchers should investigate the possible uncertainties that influence the dynamics in the upcoming job openings.
References
Bureau of Labor and Statistics. (2013). College to career: Projected job openings in occupations that typically require a bachelor’s degree. BLS. Web.
Luitel, H. S., & Mahar, G. J. (2022). Why economists disagree: An illustration of irreconcilability using the US state-level unemployment rate data. Bureau Information, 2(5), 2–5. Web.
Morita, H. (2017). US–Japanese differences in employment practices. Oxford Scholarship Online, 3–5. Web.