By Ashley Rowe on September 8, 2012 in Labor Market Dynamics.

CNN recently covered the natural evolution of the job market in the article Dying and Thriving Careers: The Jobs of Tomorrow. They listed jobs that have been affected by changing technology, economy, social and business factors. According to this article, dying jobs include Postal Service Workers, Office Administrative Workers (particularly data entry), Manufacturing Assembly Jobs, Telemarketing, and Door-to-door Sales. Thriving jobs include Data Scientists, research and design Jobs, Computer Programmers and Network Administrators, and Medical Assistants. For further insight into how these jobs have evolved over the past 4 years, we took a look into hiring trends for each position.

Dying Jobs

More than 2,400 jobs were posted online for Postal Service Workers in August 2009. As shown in the chart below, after August, hiring demand declined and didn't pick up again until October 2010. Since then, there have been some ups and downs in the volume of job ads, yet demand for Postal Service Workers still increased 8%.

Data Entry and Information Processing Workers demand fell sharply after November 2008, a 63% decrease over 2 months. Ad volume has remained at a lower level since then and has not made it back up to pre-recession demand. Even though ad volume declined, the volume of job ads for this occupation was about 6,400 in August.

There hasn't been an overwhelming amount of Manufacturing Assembly Jobs, but they are not disappearing. This specific profession has surpassed pre-recession hiring demand. Job ads posted online for Assemblers and Fabricators in Manufacturing increased 141% from 3 years ago.

Over the past 4 years, Telemarketing and Door-to-Door Sales hiring demand peaked each year with about 26,000 jobs posted online in the Spring months. These occupations haven't regained pre-recession demand levels, still down about 14% from its height in 2008.

Thriving Jobs

The overwhelming amount of data on the Internet has recently created a need for Data Scientists. As you can see in the hiring demand growth chart below, Data Scientists was barely advertised before. Demand for this profession was kick started just after August 2011. Since then, hiring demand increased more than 400%. Boston has the largest candidate supply. Meanwhile, the New Orleans metropolitan area has the most favorable recruiting environment.

Due to automation, Research and Design positions have also been on the rise. The monthly total ad volume increased 29% year-over-year. On average, it is very likely to be difficult to hire qualified candidates for this role. While Washington, DC metro has the most potential candidates in the workforce, Tucson, AZ is the best location to look for talent.

Technological advances have created higher demand for Computer Programmers and Network Administrators. August had over 102,000 job ads posted online. As you can see in the chart below, demand for this occupation rose 28% in 2 years. Recruiters will experience mixed difficulty levels when recruiting for this position across the US. New York has the largest candidate supply and Amarillo, TX has the best recruiting conditions.

With recent changes in healthcare, Medical Assistant demand has been on an upswing. Since its lowest point in December 2008, online job ads for Medical Assistants increased 97%. There were more than 23,000 jobs posted online in August. Nationally, it is easier to fill this position. Our Hiring Scale™ heat map shows Los Angeles, CA as having the best recruiting circumstances and it also has the largest talent pool.

Job applicants and Recruiters can benefit from adapting their skills to these changes. When a position that was once recruited for is declining or disappearing, Recruiters can shift their focus on positions that are thriving and adapt their skills to these areas.

Do you think any of these dying jobs can be resuscitated? How will you adapt?

To view hiring demand for these positions in your area, try a free trial of WANTED Analytics™.

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