bureau of labor statistics

Tag Archive: bureau of labor statistics

What's Hot in 2009: Careers

Written on January 5, 2009 by admin in Life Planning, Preparation

maple_leaf_foods_logo This week on The Bigg Success Show, we’re taking a look at opportunities and threats in 2009. We begin the five-part series today by looking at careers.

We recently posted an article on hot careers for 2009. On today’s show, we want to share some more thoughts. It’s a tough market if you’re looking for a job or changing careers right now. However, rest assured, there will be opportunities in 2009.

___

Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss hot 2009 careers on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

___

Opportunities in 2009

In the near future, we think the best opportunities will be “pockets”. As we define this term, “pockets” are niches within a larger job category. To find the pockets of opportunity in 2009, think about what’s been in the news and what opportunities in your area of expertise may benefit from that news.

For example, while foreclosures and bankruptcies are wreaking havoc on many, they are also creating opportunities for others. The finance profession has probably been hit as hard, or harder, than most fields.

However, opportunity still exists for certain specialists. A friend of ours is employed by a major bank’s workout department. In the last month-and-a-half, they’ve gone from our friend and one other employee to a department with about forty employees.

Some of these opportunities may be really hot in the next year or two. Then it will be time to move to a different specialty.

Opportunities in 2009 and beyond

For the long-term, think trends. In the article we mentioned previously, we looked at careers that the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to be in high demand for the next eight years or so. Then we refined it by looking at expectations for 2009, industry by industry.

If a downturn was expected in an industry, we excluded careers in that field from the list. For example, it’s expected that the casino industry will be hiring people at an above-average rate in the coming years. However, the industry isn’t expected to do well in 2009 so we removed jobs in that sector.

One trend we’re all familiar with is the aging of the baby boomers. As they reach retirement age, many career fields are expanding to serve them. One is the health-care arena where demand for workers isn’t expected to be saturated for some time to come.

Another field that plays into this trend is financial services. Especially in light of what we experienced in 2008, people are being more diligent with their investments. In particular, the baby boomers are looking for professionals who can advise them on crucial financial decisions.

These are just a couple of examples that play off this one trend. The full article has over fifty occupations with a bright outlook in 2009 and beyond.

Even if you’re not currently in the market for a job, you might find it valuable to take a look at this information. You may just discover your bigg opportunity.

___

Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success when you subscribe to our weekly newsletter the Bigg Success Weekly – it’s FREE

___

Thanks so much for checking in with us today. Again, be sure to check out our extensive article on hot careers for 2009, you'll find over 50 professions listed. Next in our series of what’s hot in 2009, we’ll focus on business opportunities. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00301-010508.mp3

Related posts

What’s Hot in 2009: Businesses

What’s Hot in 2009: Threats

(Image in today's post by MISHA)

0 Comments

How Long Do You Have To Work to Pay for What You Buy?

Written on December 1, 2008 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Money

leftovers In physics class, we learned about the law of inertia – an object in motion stays in motion. So it is with our money. We start spending and we keep spending!

Now we’re trying to slow down our spending and find ways to save money. Today, we want to discuss a new way to think about your purchasing decisions.

___

Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

___

Getting to the numbers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks many things, including consumer finances. From their most recent study, we calculated how much the average wage earner makes a year.

We then did some more research to determine how much vacation we take and how many hours a week we work, on average. From all this data, we determined that the average earner made $19.38 per hour before taxes.

Next we looked at spending by category, according to the BLS study. We divided that amount by the $19.38 an hour to determine how long we have to work to pay for what we buy.

The numbers

The average American wage earner works for almost a month to pay for entertainment and dining out.

We work about a week and two days to pay for our vacation. Think about that – we spend more time working for our vacations then we spend on them!

And since we’re nearing that time of year where we’re all feeling extra generous, we also found that we spend a full week working to pay for Christmas presents.

There’s power in this tool for you

It may be useful to think about past spending decisions, but the power of this tool comes in helping you make decisions now.

For example, say you’re the average wage earner thinking about purchasing a LCD HDTV. It would cost you around $600. You would have to work two-and-a-half days to pay for that TV.

Is it worth it to you?

A bigger house

We recently saw that the median price for a house is $200,500. You would have to work two months and a week every year to make your mortgage payment on that house.

You may not be thinking about a bigger house now. But let’s say the day comes when you decide you’d like to stretch a little. The median priced house was requiring 19% of your income; you think you could handle 25%. Now you’ll have to work three months out of every year to pay the mortgage on this bigger house.

Is it worth it to you to work three extra weeks every year just to pay your mortgage? Is there anything else you would rather buy with your hard work?

The formula

So far we’ve talked about averages, but they don’t really matter. What matters is how much you make per hour. Here’s how to calculate it:

Amount earned per week ÷ Hours worked per week = Hourly earnings

Your pay cycle may not be a week, but you can adjust accordingly. The BLS statistics look at before-tax income. Ideally, you’ll look at disposable income – after all taxes have been paid – since that’s the only money you have available to spend.

As salaried employees, we often don’t fully track how much time we work. You may have to track it for a week or two. If you really want the full picture, include your commuting time and any other job-related time.

Invisible expenses

Don’t just think about your major purchases. Consider your invisible expenses – those frequent small purchases that can really add up over the course of the year.

For example, say you spend $5 every day on lunch. Over the course of the year, that would add to $1,275 (assuming one week’s vacation). The average earner would have to work 66 hours to pay for this.

Is it worth it?

You might look at that and decide that it’s not. You start packing a lunch which only costs you $1. Now you would only have to work thirteen hours a year to pay for your lunches.

That’s 53 hours of work that could be spent on something else!

How about a nicer vacation, starting that emergency fund, or paying off the debt that’s keeping you up at night?

So frame your expenditures by the number of hours you have to work to pay for them. Then ask yourself if it’s worth it. It’s a great way to prioritize your spending.

___

It won’t cost you any money to subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly And it doesn’t even take much time to read the tips and tools that will help you be a BIGG success!

___

Thanks for visiting us today. Come back next time when we discuss why you can’t have it all, but you can have all you really want. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00276-120108.mp3

Related posts

These Forgotten Costs Often Sink Us

Is Convenience Busting Your Budget?

Don’t Make This Costly Mistake

Getting Aggressively Passive: Creating A Passive Income That Sets You Free

(Image by House Of Sims, CC 2.0)