College Courses.com Education & Career Blog

I know that you want some good news after last Friday’s post, and that is exactly what I plan on giving you today. Despite the damage that the weakening housing market has had on our economy lately, the great news is that hot job markets still exist. In abundance! Or at least Bizjournals.com likes to think so.

On Monday the business site released its report on the hottest job markets in the U.S. this year, with a lot of Western states coming into play in 2007. Since the start of 2002, the number of private-sector positions across the country has increased by 6.4 percent. Here is a brief summary of where some of these jobs cropped up:

In Phoenix, Arizona, positions have grown over 23 percent in the past five years, which nearly quadruples the national growth rate. The AZ market also led all other U.S. metros in jobs created since 2002 at 325,100.

Second behind Phoenix on the hot market list is Salt Lake City, Utah, with positions there growing 16.3 percent since 2002. At 11.3 percent, Salt Lake City boasts the highest growth rate in the nation over the past two years.

Boise, Idaho slid into the third spot with a 2.1 percent unemployment rate as of June 2007. The metro also saw its jobs increase by 21.3 percent over the past five years.

The Riverside-San Bernardino, California area grabbed fourth place honors with over 233,000 new jobs and 27.3 percent growth since 2002.

Houston, Texas rounds out the top five with an even 10 percent growth, 198,700 new positions since 2002, and 69,500 jobs coming just this past year.

You can find the rankings in their entirety here, as well as some other category winners here.

Texas beat out all the other states with the most hot job markets on the list. Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin all made it into the top ten. If you are looking for a new occupation in Texas, Houston is known for energy jobs (think green technology), Dallas-Forth Worth is known for finance, and Austin is known for technology.

Other areas that made it into the top twenty were Las Vegas, Seattle, Orlando, Raleigh, Honolulu, and Jacksonville. Earning your degree from a nearby school in one of these regions could be a great way to break into these promising markets, so take a look at some colleges in Washington, Florida, and North Carolina while you’re at CollegeCourses.com.

National disasters like Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 have changed everything from our views on foreign policy to what degrees we pursue in college. As early back as 1994, only four universities in the U.S. offered programs in emergency management. Today, over one hundred American-based institutions have emergency management, homeland security, and terrorism prevention programs in place, with hundreds more planning to feature these emerging disciplines in the near future.

For those of you unaware of what emergency management entails, one director of homeland security in Kansas gave this humorous explanation of his profession: “My job is to tell you things you don’t want to hear, asking you to spend money you don’t have for something you don’t believe will ever happen.” Although the disasters that emergency managers plan for don’t always occur (e.g., floods and flu epidemics), the preventive measures they take have the potential to save thousands of lives.

Even though the field has been in existence for decades, emergency planning is now considered a formal career path, especially with the explosive growth of related degree programs over the past 15 years. The profession continues to evolve and become more specialized as the years go on, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that emergency management positions will increase 28 percent between 2002 and 2012. Job openings will also increase with the impending retirement of veterans who are responsible for legitimizing the occupation.

If you already have a degree that would facilitate a career as an emergency management specialist, the International Association of Emergency Managers site (iaem.com) has a job board where open positions are posted regularly. Nowadays everyone is looking for emergency managers, from public agencies to volunteer organizations to large corporations like Wal-Mart. Pay within the field varies, but most county directors can expect to make between $60,000 and $100,000 a year.

You can begin earning your degree in emergency management by doing something as simple as contacting one of the schools listed on CollegeCourses.com. Kaplan University offers a certificate in terrorism and national security, while the School of Criminal Justice at Florida Metropolitan University features associate and bachelor degrees in homeland security. University of Phoenix also offers a Master of Administration in Justice & Security. For a full list of institutions that offer online and campus-based classes in emergency management, visit the FEMA site.

I know that summer is basically over, and you probably don’t want to hear any more bad news right now. So I’ll start with the good news first. It’s Friday. And being the first Friday of the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its employment situation report this morning. And here is where the bad news begins…

Payroll employment dropped for the first time in a long time this past month, with a net loss of 4,000 jobs. If you think in terms of the total number of employed workers, which stands at 138 million in the U.S., this seems like a minimal drop. The report phrased it quite nicely, stating that the employment situation was “essentially unchanged” in August. But economists were hoping to gain around 100,000 new positions last month. So technically, this is the first time that we’ve seen the crumbling housing market affect our country’s overall employment.

Unsurprisingly, some of the biggest losses came in the manufacturing and the construction industries. Manufacturing jobs dropped by 46,000 in August, which brings the grand total of lost positions since last year to 215,000. Construction employment fell by 22,000. Another sector that lost a considerable amount of jobs was local government education, which reported a loss of 32,000 positions.

On a more positive note, health care employment and the hospitality industry helped to keep the payroll numbers somewhat even. Ambulatory care services added 18,000 jobs in August and hospital positions grew by 11,000. Employment in social assistance also increased by 14,000 jobs. Overall, food services and drinking places added 24,000 positions. Since August of 2006, this industry has contributed 350,000 new jobs to payroll employment.

That is all the big news that the report yielded. Similar to the overall payroll numbers, most categories remained unchanged in August. The average weekly earnings did continue rise by another 0.3 percent. So now the average American makes $591.50 per week. Not the silver lining we were hoping for, but it’s something.

If you are in the market for a new career, it is best to steer clear of any industries related to real estate for now. CollegeCourses.com features a large number of online schools that specialize in health care, including University of Phoenix, AIU, and Warren National University.

When you think of the best careers out there today, what do you think in terms of? Pay? Availability? Hours? In a report released by CareerJournal.com editors in July, the best careers were identified as having good intellectual stimulation, strong job security, a high level of freedom in what you do, and extensive contact with clients.

These may not be the most obvious qualities to look for in a position, but it seems that they can contribute to your overall satisfaction with one. CareerJournal.com collaborated with the polling company Harris Interactive to survey nearly 4,000 U.S. adults, and 44 percent of those polled described themselves as “highly satisfied” with their careers. When asked to describe their current jobs, this content group of professionals mentioned the four qualities listed above the most.

Everyone knows that job satisfaction is subjective, but the site believes that its results represent some common attributes that factor into whether or not someone is happy with their career. So with this information in hand, CareerJournal.com compiled its list of the best careers of 2006. (Because the survey was conducted in April of last year.) The methodology gets a little tricky at this point, but basically the editors sorted through data and employment projections to find several careers that met these criteria. If you’re unconvinced of how valid this research is, here is a much more lengthy description of how the site reached its findings.

What I’m trying to get to is a list of careers that can and should keep your satisfied in the upcoming years. People are happy with these careers because of the nature of the job and not because of their popularity in the current marketplace. However, if you are concerned about the job security component, know that many of these professions are crucial and should be creating new positions far into the future. The best careers of 2006 (in no particular order) are as follows:

1) Medical researchers
2) Physical therapists
3) Hospital and clinic managers
4) Social workers, counselors, and related managers
5) High school and special education teachers
6) Curriculum and instructional coordinators
7) Management consultants and analysts
8) Sales, marketing, and advertising managers

Unsurprisingly, the best careers all fit into the categories of health care, education, and business. And better yet, CollegeCourses.com can link you to schools that offer degrees in all of these areas.

CareerJournal.com also conducted interviews with real professionals who work in the careers that made its list. So if any of the jobs above interest you, in say curriculum development or health clinic management, be sure to read what these workers have to say. You will get to hear what they love about their careers, as well as what they see as challenges in their professions. For links to all of the interviews, just visit the 2006 Best Careers homepage.