UnemploymentData.com

Your Source for Employment and Unemployment Data

Unemployment
You are here: Home / Archives for Employment

Employment

5 Things You Can Do with a Degree in Special Education

by

Special education is one of the most in-demand specialties for teachers today. According to the CDC, about one in every six children has some type of developmental disability. Not all children requiring special education have a cognitive or physical delay or other challenge, as an increasing number of students are considered gifted or talented and need special education to meet their needs.

Earning a degree in special education opens the doors to a range of career opportunities, all of which are growing swiftly. As you think about your career in education, consider some of these paths to helping all students access the education they deserve.

Special Education Teacher

The most obvious path with a special education degree is to become a classroom teacher. Opportunities abound, as there are significant shortages of special education teachers in nearly every state. The expected growth in the field varies according to location and age group, with special education preschool and early childhood educators expected to see the most growth (9 percent) over the next six years. However, even elementary and secondary educators will see demand increase, with the expected growth rate at 6 percent.

Special education teachers may work with a full class of students, with individual students or with small groups. Some specialize in a specific subject area, such as reading, while others are generalists. Regardless, working as a special education teacher requires a higher-than-average degree of flexibility and patience, as well as a willingness to manage the paperwork that comes along with special education and to work as part of a team of parents, counselors, administrators and other teachers.

Special Education Specialist

Some schools or districts hire specialists to work with a specific population of students. For example, you might work with hearing-impaired students as an ASL interpreter or earn an autism certification online to work specifically with students with autism. In fact, autism is on the rise, with the CDC reporting rates of 1 in 68 children, and many of these children are being mainstreamed into traditional classrooms. Often, they need one-on-one assistance, and a special education specialist fills that role. In some cases, the specialist will work with the same student throughout their time in the school, allowing them to build a special bond and relationship with the student and his or her family. Specialists often face many of the same challenges as classroom teachers, though, in terms of needing patience and flexibility and managing the intricacies of special education.

Student Advocate

When a student requires special education services, they generally have an Individual Education Plan, or IEP. IEPs are developed with the input of teachers, counselors, healthcare providers, social workers school administrators and parents. The process isn’t always easy, and many parents find that they aren’t fully prepared to advocate for their child. That’s where a student or family advocate comes in. They serve as an objective third party for the family, putting their knowledge of the ins and outs of special education to work to ensure that the student receives all necessary services and that the IEP is thorough and effective. Most student advocates work on a freelance or contract basis and have at least a few years of experience working in a school or program before they become an advocate.

Early Intervention Specialist

Some children present signs of cognitive or physical delays or disabilities early in life – sometimes as early as infancy. Early intervention specialists work with infants, toddlers and preschoolers to deliver interventions that will have a positive effect on their growth and development. Early intervention specialists often work with social workers and medical providers to provide services in the home, medical setting or a center or classroom. This role also requires a great deal of patience, as well as a thorough understanding of child development and developmental milestones.

Special Education Diagnostician

For many children, [Read more…] about 5 Things You Can Do with a Degree in Special Education

Want to Be a Mechanic? Top Tips for Success

by

As a mechanic, you have a lot of opportunities in your future. After all, most people drive cars on a daily basis. Additionally, most people tend to need an auto mechanic once or twice a year (at least). Business will always be good for a mechanic. However, business can be greater when you’re an honest mechanic. Unfortunately, this is an industry where people experience a lot of unfair prices and fraud and many mechanics complain about the practices employed by dealerships. There are a variety of options available to qualified auto mechanics including working for dealers, private shops or starting your own shop. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: The median annual wage for automotive service technicians and mechanics was $39,550 in May 2017.

Operate with Integrity

For most people, an auto mechanic who works with integrity is a godsend. Many people wish they could be in the position where they were working with a mechanic who they genuinely trusted. Earn the trust of your customers by providing them with excellent customer service. Always be honest in your dealings with them. Make sure that you set prices that allow you to set fair prices and earn a fair profit. This one tip will easily set you up above the rest.

Develop the Skills

Employers prefer [Read more…] about Want to Be a Mechanic? Top Tips for Success

Looking Into Career Options? A Brief Overview of the Biotechnology Industry

by

When many people hear the word biotechnology, they may think about cloning. But according to Wikipedia:

Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make products, or “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use”… Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the (related) fields of bioengineering, biomedical engineering, biomanufacturing, molecular engineering, etc.

For thousands of years, humankind has used biotechnology in agriculture, food production, and medicine. The term is largely believed to have been coined in 1919 by Hungarian engineer Károly Ereky. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, biotechnology has expanded to include new and diverse sciences such as genomics, recombinant gene techniques, applied immunology, and development of pharmaceutical therapies and diagnostic tests.

Here are some of the options that biotechnology encompasses if you’re considering a career in this industry. [Read more…] about Looking Into Career Options? A Brief Overview of the Biotechnology Industry

4 Careers Where Knowing How to Interpret Data Is Crucial

by

Many different industries utilize data in order to understand the information that they’re receiving. The skill of interpreting data is really considered more of a soft skill. Here are some careers in which it’s crucial to be able to understand the data trends.

Business Analyst

The role of a business analyst is to take all of the information available and formulate a business plan. This form of data interpretation is more commonly referred to as Business Intelligence (BI). Most companies have some form of BI or another. There are many different types of industries in which having this skill set will come in handy. You don’t have to be limited in your choices if you decide to go into business analytics.

Healthcare Industry

The healthcare industry is another big player when it comes to data interpretation. Companies like MedPro Systems can help hospitals gather their data more effectively by creating a dispute resolution management system. This type of system would track open payments and any other type of dispute at the hospital. Administrators are more likely to routinely look at this type of information if it is well organized and easily quantifiable. You may be interested in pursuing a career path in healthcare.

Software Engineer

There is a growing industry in which software engineers are developing artificial intelligence. This is sometimes referred to as a career in machine learning. Traditionally, AI companies focus their research on reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, learning, natural language processing, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.  The point is to teach your software program to better adapt to the world around it. There are other applications in which [Read more…] about 4 Careers Where Knowing How to Interpret Data Is Crucial

Tips for Getting Ahead of the Competition in a Tough Job Market

by

These days, with so much uncertainty in many industries and global markets, as well as more people switching careers regularly, you often end up having a big pool of candidates to compete against when it comes time to find a new role. This can be particularly difficult when your local job market is declining, or when your industry is being disrupted. When this happens, you need to know how to shine, and stand out brightly from your competition. Read on for some key ways to go about this today.

Have a Stand-Out Resume

One of the key components of a strong application is your resume. This is usually the first thing HR managers or business owners see, so it really needs to show, within a few seconds, why you’re worth learning about further. You want a document that people will stop to read thoroughly, instead of just skimming before moving on to the next person’s.

There are numerous elements involved in putting together a CV that stands out. Make sure you use helpful formatting, for one. Readers have limited time, so won’t spend long on each document to begin with. As such, you must make your resume scannable (e.g. broken up into bite-size pieces of information instead of big blocks), and put the most important information first so it’s quickly evident that you have some of the skills and experience required.

Always tailor your resume to the position you want to land and the company you want to work for too. While you’ll have a template document to use as the basis, don’t keep sending out the same document to every potential employer  –  the jobs will likely be different in some capacity, plus the recruiters will be looking for different things. Read the job ad carefully for clues, and research firms so you get an understanding of how they work and what qualities they may want in their team members. Be sure to include any appropriate “Buzzwords” contained in advertisement you’re responding to in your resume.

Remember it’s not about [Read more…] about Tips for Getting Ahead of the Competition in a Tough Job Market

March Employment Tops 147 Million

by

Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their monthly employment survey results for the month of March on Friday April 6th .

According to the BLS the Seasonally Adjusted U-3 Unemployment Rate is unchanged for the 6th month in a row. So from October through March the Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment rate has been 4.1%. This month the unadjusted U-3 was also 4.1%.

Many Experts consider this to be the new “Full Employment” level i.e. everyone who wants a job has found one however with the Labor Force Participation rate still well below the average that is debatable.  See Is the U.S. Really at “Full Employment”? for more information.

Key March Employment and Unemployment Numbers

  • Adjusted U-3 Unemployment- 4.1% unchanged since October.
  • Unadjusted U-3 Unemployment- 4.1% down from 4.4% February.
  • Unadjusted U-6 Unemployment- 8.1% down from 8.6% in February.
  • Employment 147,332 million up from 146.667 million in February and 145.473 million in January but down from 148.346 million in December and 148.526 million in November.
  • Gallup has discontinued publishing U-6 & U-3 numbers.

See Current Unemployment Chart for more info.

Employment by Sector

The employment “bubble chart” gives us a good representation of how each sector of the economy is doing (employment wise). As we can see from the chart below three sectors are to the left of the zero line this month indicating that all other sectors gained employees in March except Construction which lost -15,000 employees, Retail which lost -4,400 employees, and “Other Services” which lost -1,000 employees on a “Seasonally Adjusted” basis.

Employment by SectorThe biggest gainer was Professional and Business Services (bubble furthest to the right) which added 33,000 jobs, followed by Education and Health Services which gained 25,000 jobs and Manufacturing which gained 22,000 jobs on top of last months 31,000 manufacturing jobs gained. Average weekly earnings for all industries increased from $922.88 to $925.29.

(See the table below the chart for average weekly earnings and other details.)

 

How to read this chart:

Bubbles location on the chart tell us two things:

  • Change in Employment Levels over the most recent month.
  • Average Weekly earnings.
  • The further to the right the bubble the larger the increase in the number of jobs.
  • The higher up on the chart the larger the average salary.

Bubble Size tells us:

  • Total Employment for the sector.
  • Larger bubbles mean more people are employed in that sector.

Employment and Average Weekly Earnings by Industry for All Employees

March  2018, Seasonally Adjusted

Industry Monthly Increase Average Weekly Earnings Employment Level
Total Private Employment 102,000 $925.29 125,904,000
Mining and Logging 8,000 $1,501.44 722,000
Construction -15,000 $1,153.66 7,150,000
Manufacturing 22,000 $1,098.57 12,632,000
Wholesale trade 11,400 $1,178.97 5,967,300
Retail trade -4,400 $576.58 15,915,900
Transportation and Warehousing 9,800 $942.35 5,279,300
Utilities 4,000 $1,674.74 559,000
Information 2,000 $1,410.43 2,760,000
Financial Activities 2,000 $1,297.20 8,546,000
Professional and Business Services 33,000 $1,162.42 20,803,000
Education and Health Services 25,000 $882.38 23,483,000
Leisure and Hospitality 5,000 $412.64 16,256,000
Other Services -1,000 $770.31 5,830,000

U-6 Unemployment

U3 vs U6 UnemploymentLooking at the broader measure of Unemployment which includes discouraged workers, we see that the U-6 unemployment rate fell from 8.9% in January to 8.6% in February and fell further to 8.1% in March.

See Unadjusted U-6 unemployment for more info.

Employment

Over the last month, the actual number of people working (not seasonally adjusted) has increased by 665,000  jobs in March. The BLS Commissioner said:“ Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 in March, following a large gain in February (+326,000)… 

Historical Employment

Over the month, job gains occurred in manufacturing, health care, and mining… Manufacturing employment rose by 22,000… Employment in health care increased by 22,000 in March and has grown by 304,000 over the year…. Mining employment rose by 9,000… Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in March (+33,000). Over the year, employment in the industry has increased by 502,000, with gains distributed across most of the component industries.” [Read more…] about March Employment Tops 147 Million

5 Career Choices That Can Lead to Financial Stability

by

When looking for a career to pursue, finding one that can provide you with a comfortable living should at least be part of your consideration. For those that are looking for a job that pays well, here are five different career choices and paths that could help you achieve financial stability.

Medical Field

While the medical field has been impacted by changes in the insurance agency and a variety of other factors, it still provides great earning potential. For those that are willing to put in the work that comes with medical school and residency, becoming a physician or surgeon can be a great option. Physicians routinely earn over $200,000 per year and surgeons earn well over $300,000 per year. Other healthcare occupations that you might consider are: Athletic Trainers $45,630/yr and only require a Bachelor’s Degree. Dental Hygienists $72,910/yr Associates Degree, Diagnostic Medical Sonographers  $64,280/yr. Associates Degree, Dietitians and Nutritionists $58,920/yr. Bachelor’s degree,  Occupational Therapists $81,910/yr. Master’s degree. See the Bureau of Labor Statistics full list of Medical/Healthcare Professions.

Accounting

Another career path that could provide you with [Read more…] about 5 Career Choices That Can Lead to Financial Stability

6 Ways to Streamline Your Job Hunt

by

Searching for a new job can be overwhelming, especially when the search for a job stretches on for a long time. Between preparing your resume, crafting cover letters, and jumping through interview hoops, embarking on a job search can be one of the most frazzling and anxiety-ridden parts of modern adult life.

If you’re on the hunt for a new job, or facing the prospect of embarking on a job hunt, use these tips to streamline the search. This will not only make your job search more manageable, but could hopefully shorten the duration as well.

1) Treat a Job Search as Your New Full Time Job

You must treat finding a job as if it were your full time job. So you need a place to work where you can concentrate without distractions. Along the same lines you need to work full time hours. When you get laid off it is too easy to get into the habit of staying up late and then “sleeping in”. If you are going to be successful you need to be organized and spend your “work hours” creating a resume ( and then constantly tweaking it), seeking out potential employers, submitting resumes, interviewing and following up.

2) Be Selective

You should definitely apply to any job you feel you’re qualified for, but you only have so much time and energy to devote to job searching, so don’t waste any of it by applying for jobs you know you have no chance of even being interviewed for. Be realistic, but don’t sell yourself short, either. If you’re missing one or two of the qualifications asked for in the job posting, you might still have a chance of getting an interview, because companies know they may not find a candidate with all of the experience and skills they’re looking for. But if you’re missing several of the company’s desired qualifications, move on to the next job.

Apply this strategy to interviewing, too, so you don’t waste your time interviewing for a job that pays significantly less than your desired salary, offers fewer opportunities for advancement, or is otherwise not advanced enough for your skill set. Be honest when interviewers ask about your desired salary range, and if they don’t ask, don’t be afraid to ask the salary range during an initial phone screening. This might put off some employers, but most will understand that you need a certain salary or certain benefits and don’t want to waste theirs or your time by interviewing for a position that can’t compensate you as you require.

 

3) Use Your Network

Many people get jobs through [Read more…] about 6 Ways to Streamline Your Job Hunt

February Employment UP – Unemployment Down

by

Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate

On Friday March 9th the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their monthly employment survey results for the month of February.

According to the BLS the Seasonally Adjusted U-3 Unemployment Rate for February is unchanged for the 5th month in a row. That’s right from October through February the Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment rate has been 4.1%.

This is a very low level and we really don’t expect it to get too much lower.

Key February Employment and Unemployment Numbers

  • Adjusted U-3 Unemployment- 4.1% unchanged since October.
  • Unadjusted U-3 Unemployment- 4.4% down from 4.5% January.
  • Unadjusted U-6 Unemployment- 8.6% down from 8.9% in January.
  • Employment 146.696 million up from 145.473 million in January but down from 148.346 million in December and 148.526 million in November.
  • Gallup has discontinued publishing U-6 & U-3 numbers.

See Current Unemployment Chart for more info.

Employment by Sector

The employment “bubble chart” gives us a good representation of how each sector of the economy is doing (employment wise). As we can see from the chart below the only sector to the left of the zero line is Information meaning that all other sectors gained employees in February except information which lost -12,000 employees on a “Seasonally Adjusted” basis.

The biggest gainer was construction (bubble furthest to the right) which added 61,000 jobs, followed by Retail Trade which gained 50,300 jobs and Professional and Business Services which gained 50,000 jobs even manufacturing gained 31,000 jobs. (See the table below the chart for average weekly earnings and other details.)Employment by Sector Bubble Chart

 

How to read this chart:

Bubbles location on the chart tell us two things:

  • Change in Employment Levels over the most recent month.
  • Average Weekly earnings.
  • The further to the right the bubble the larger the increase in the number of jobs.
  • The higher up on the chart the larger the average salary.

Bubble Size tells us:

  • Total Employment for the sector.
  • Larger bubbles mean more people are employed in that sector.

Employment and Average Weekly Earnings by Industry for All Employees

February 2018, Seasonally Adjusted

Industry Monthly Increase Average Weekly Earnings Employment Level
Total Private Employment 287,000 $922.88 125,819,000
Mining and Logging 8,000 $1,485.78 713,000
Construction 61,000 $1,158.17 7,173,000
Manufacturing 31,000 $1,100.03 12,614,000
Wholesale trade 5,800 $1,185.12 5,956,200
Retail trade 50,300 $572.55 15,926,200
Transportation and Warehousing 15,400 $940.60 5,263,400
Utilities 1,200 $1,658.82 553,400
Information -12,000 $1,418.40 2,748,000
Financial Activities 28,000 $1,290.81 8,547,000
Professional and Business Services 50,000 $1,161.30 20,760,000
Education and Health Services 23,000 $882.75 23,466,000
Leisure and Hospitality 16,000 $410.81 16,262,000
Other Services 10,000 $768.73 5,837,000

U-6 Unemployment

U6 UnemploymentLooking at the broader measure of Unemployment which includes discouraged workers, we see that the U-6 unemployment rate fell from 10.1% in January to 9.5% in 2017 and from 8.9% to 8.6% in 2018.

From the table at the left we can also see that U-6 unemployment went from 9.2% in October 2016 to 7.6% in 2017.

Similarly it fell from 9.0% in November 2016 to 7.7% in 2017 and from 9.1% in December 2016 to 8.0% in 2017.

See Unadjusted U-6 unemployment for more info.

Employment

Historical EmploymentOver the last month, the actual number of people working (not seasonally adjusted) has increased by   [Read more…] about February Employment UP – Unemployment Down

4 Educational Paths for Those Interested in Career Leadership Roles

by

There are many educational pathways if you’re interested in being a leader in your industry. They only real qualification is that you’re passionate about what you want to do. Here are some pathways for you consider to get you into a leadership position.

Training and Development Manager

Training is a vital part of all industries. As a training manager, you would develop the programs that educate those entering your industry. Many training managers play a significant role in developing their current workforce’s skills. This allows employees to move up within the company. You would also be tasked with managing the budget of your department. Having a background in adult education would be beneficial to get you on the path to becoming a training manager. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “The median annual wage for training and development managers was $105,830 in May 2016. Employment of training and development managers is projected to grow 10 percent from 2016 to 2026, faster than the average for all occupations. Job prospects should be favorable due to the constant need for workplace training and education.”

Attend Nursing School

Nursing is a demanding career that has many rewards. If you are currently working in another field, [Read more…] about 4 Educational Paths for Those Interested in Career Leadership Roles