Is Your Job on the Declining Occupations List?

The recent employee buyouts and job layoffs at General Motors, Delphi Corporation or Ford Motors have caught some people off guard.

Of course hindsight is 20/20 and many people are now looking back and realizing that the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Research shows that buyouts and changes in the auto industry have been a long time coming. As we evaluate our own careers we should be thinking about what lessons we can learn from this latest round of buyouts in the automotive industry.

Workers must constantly be scanning the internal and external environments to see what is happening in their own industries. It is important to not only look at our own companies, but at other companies within our industry. In addition, we should pay closer attention to what is happening with your company's vendors and customers and read national and regional reports on growing or declining occupations.

In many cases employees choose to stay despite all the signals and signs that change is coming. Susan Carty in an article for USA Today in 2006 says, "The (auto) jobs, hard to come by in an industry that's shrinking, might be monotonous and hard on the body, but the workers who have them know they've got something special: benefits and job security unparalleled in the rest of the country."

Workers should remember that although buyout packages from the auto companies appear attractive for many, people in other industries or in smaller companies will not fare the same way.

One good sign or indicator is to watch the list of the top 50 careers with declining employment from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' . These are the occupations that are projected to have the largest decline in the number of people employed in the United States between 2006 and 2016.

It is important to really take responsibility for our own career choices and start looking at these indicators and warning signs. These warning signs will give us the chance to prepare by:

- dusting off and updating your resumes

- brushing up on interview preparation

- exploring new or related careers

- picking up new responsibilities at work to expand your value

- learning new skills in a different area or department at work

- going back to school and signing up for a vocational program

- becoming a go-to expert in your field

- relocating to another state where your skills or region may be more in demand

Here are the Top 20 declining careers from the list. You might not recognize most of these jobs in the top 20 but I am sure you will recognize others from this Top 50 list. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will give you additional specific details for job projections in your specific state as well.

1 Photographic processing machine operators

2 File clerks

3 Wood model makers

4 Wood Patternmakers

5 Telephone operators

6 Photographic process workers

7 Shoe machine operators and tenders

8 Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders

9 Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

10 Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

11 Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders

12 Fabric and apparel patternmakers

13 Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

14 Sewing machine operators

15 Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

16 Computer operators

17 Order Clerks

18Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders

19 Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

20 Foundry mold and core makers