College Courses.com Education & Career Blog

If you devote any amount of time to researching the job market and our nation’s economy, chances are that you know about the struggling real estate industry. Within the past year, the U.S. has seen the value of homes drop and interest rates rise, and subprime lenders are feeling the brunt of this detrimental combination. I won’t delve too deep into an explanation behind the current state of our housing market, because these articles can probably explain the growing crisis better. See here, and here, and here’s another for good measure.

For the sake of this post, all you really need to know is that more bankruptcies are anticipated and massive lay offs are already affecting mortgage brokers, real estate agents, and construction workers across the country. Since January of this year, mortgage lending companies have cut 38,000 jobs, while 20,000 construction positions have been lost. The National Association of Realtors is also reporting its first drop in membership in 10 years. What’s more is that housing experts predict that conditions are going to worsen. Most admit that they don’t expect to see any improvement in the market until late 2008 or 2009.

Needless to say, many Americans who relied on the real estate industry as their main source of income are now searching for temporary work or permanent positions with more stability. That is where CollegeCourses.com comes in, with some information on thriving occupations and a few suggestions on where to look next…

For a quick fix:

Mortgage lenders and real estate agents can always turn to life insurance sales, an industry that doesn’t feel the effects of economic downturns as often.

Construction workers should look into jobs as mechanics, technicians, machine operators, and truck and delivery drivers. These positions are notoriously hard to fill, don’t require any specialized degrees, and allow you to remain in a labor-related career.

For long-term positions:

My advice to all unemployed workers is to follow the growth. In an article posted on msnbc.com, Jenny Lynn Zappala discusses where the jobs will be in 2012. It is extremely important to think ahead if you are planning on earning your college degree in a new field, as this process could take a few years.

For instance, between 2004 and 2014, the nation is expected to generate 350,000 new openings for home health aides, which would represent a 56 percent growth margin within the industry. The list of fastest-growing jobs continues on with medical assistants, computer software engineers, and dental assistants (to name a few).

The bulk of the growth will occur in the technology, science, and health care sectors, so those would be my recommendations for degree areas to look into. As always, CollegeCourses.com links to numerous schools, many of which feature these disciplines and much, much more.

So I know my last post included data from the U.S. Census Bureau, but I can’t help it. They are always releasing useful information. That’s their job! They survey and quantify and transfer everything into neat little charts and graphs so that the common folk (like you and I) can understand it better. You should be thankful for the U.S. Census Bureau, and my posts, and the organization’s new site: business.census.gov…

I’m not going to explain everything about the website here, because I think that you should all check it out for yourselves, but basically it analyzes all of the major American industries. Most of them fall within the business sector, and the data on the site discusses changes from 1997 to 2002. This isn’t the most recent information, but the new census hasn’t been conducted yet, so it’s the best you’re going to get. Most trends would indicate that the numbers have mostly grown (in a good way) since 2002, so think of these charts and their info as conservative estimates for 2007.

There are basically two categories of information on the site; one is called industry snapshots and the other is titled industry ratios. An industry snapshot will give you some of those nifty charts and graphs that I mentioned earlier, depending on which industry you link to. Some examples are landscaping services, automotive repair & maintenance, and loan brokers. You can also select “all other industries,” which will give you a more comprehensive look at the U.S. marketplace. That chart has plenty of links, so make sure to click on any industry that is of interest to you so that you can read more about it.

If you navigate back to the homepage and choose the industry ratios option, you will find a chart similar to the one that pops up under “all other industries” in the industry snapshots section. This chart offers some different figures that are worth looking at. In particular, the chart breaks the revenues down for each industry, tells you how many establishments exist in relation to the population, and pinpoints the annual earnings for an average payroll employee in each field. Some sample industries include manufacturing, finance & insurance, health care & social assistance, and wholesale trade. If you want an extended chart on any of these industries, their links are located on the left hand side of the chart.

That is all I am going to say, because the site really isn’t of any use unless you browse through it yourself. Even though it doesn’t post the latest numbers, it does provide you with an overview of how the industries have progressed in recent years. It is also a helpful tool for students who want to compare and contrast different areas of study. Can’t decide between a degree in management or art history? Well, those working in the management industry averaged about $68,000 a year in 2002, while employees at museums and other related institutions made around $24,000 annually.

Like I said earlier, you should be thankful for the U.S. Census Bureau, they are practically doing the work for you.

In honor of the back-to-school season, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest “Facts for Feature” bulletin, which includes a range of statistics on everything from how much we spend on new clothes for the fall season to the average hourly wage for our nation’s school bus drivers.

Because the bureau reported on all levels of schooling, and there were a bunch of college-related facts scattered throughout the bulletin, I thought I would share the most interesting ones with all of you in this post…

For example, the report projects that 18 million students will enroll in U.S. colleges and universities this fall. Two decades ago, only 12.8 million enrolled.

In terms of adult students, 37 percent of all college participants in October of 2005 were 25 or older. Out of these students, over 50 percent attended school part time.

Women represented 56 percent of the total undergraduate population and 59 percent of the graduate school community toward the end of 2005.

Just two years ago, 4,276 institutions in our country granted college degrees.

In 2005, the average earnings of workers 18 and older with advanced degrees equaled $79,946 a year. Those with bachelor degrees earned an average of $54,689 annually. This is considerably more than the average annual wage of workers with only a high school diploma, which totaled $29,448. Workers with no diploma made an average of only $19,915 a year.

And lastly, during the 2007-08 school year, it has been predicted that 3 million college degrees will be conferred by colleges and universities throughout the country.

The last two groups of statistics should be of particular interest to anyone thinking about returning to college for an undergraduate or a graduate degree in the near future. Compared to high school graduates, those with advanced degrees make an average of $50,000 more per year. So even if you invest $200,000 in your college education, you could potentially break even and begin gaining interest on that investment in just four years! With 3 million degrees being awarded over the next school year, the competition for jobs among college grads is unlikely to diminish anytime soon.

If you are confused about where to begin your post-secondary education, take a look at a post from last month that discusses the 25 best salaries the U.S. has to offer. Afterwards, you can browse CollegeCourses.com for information and school listings that appeal to you.

If a case of the Mondays has got you down, I’ve got some news that may help cheer you up: the average hourly earnings of American workers jumped another 6 cents in July! It may not sound like much, but that amounts to nearly 3% of the price of a gallon of gas. That’s of course in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a town that boasts the lowest gasoline prices in the country today. But in all seriousness, we should regard any progress as a good thing. So even though July’s payroll statistics are a little less than impressive, they are still encouraging…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the payroll numbers this past Friday, reporting a total increase of 92,000 jobs across all industries in July. The nation’s unemployment rate continued to linger around 4.6 percent, a number that represents 7.1 million unemployed persons.

Groups of workers experienced little change in terms of unemployment, and the biggest shifts belong to teenagers and African Americans. The rate for teenagers improved from 15.8 to 15.2 percent in July. The African American workforce experienced a similar change, with its unemployment rate dropping from 8.5 percent to an even 8 percent.

Even though this past month brought about an upsurge in nonfarm payroll employment, July’s numbers represent some of the lowest in recent months. Fields responsible for the slight (but still beneficial) increase in jobs are health services, professional and business services, and service-producing trades in general.

Health care employment added 36,000 positions in July, specifically in physician’s offices, hospitals, and home health care situations. AIU, University of Phoenix, and Warren National University all offer health care-related degrees as part of their curriculum.

Food services and drinking places took on an additional 22,000 workers. Financial activities such as insurance carriers, credit intermediation, and investments also encountered an increase of 22,000 jobs. Computer systems design and related services grew by 15,000 positions over the month.

The promise that government jobs showed in June wavered considerably, with a loss of 28,000 jobs in July.

In general, July saw health care and food service jobs continue on in their upward trend while other areas struggled. The only distinct difference in job growth occurred in business and professional services. Also, the 6 cent increase in hourly earnings brings the national average to $17.45 per hour. Since 2006, hourly earnings have grown by nearly 4 percent.