That we need to rescue the country from Obama, that the economy's in the toilet..

So the same size job losses now are a much smaller fraction of the increased workforce. Very, and almost boringly, sound trendline here.

Usual reminders for those who always make invalid assumptions about this metric:

- It's INITIAL claims, nothing to do with expiring benefits

- Just about everyone who lost an above-board job except by choice or fault is eligible to apply

- There are 150MM+ people working, so yes there are still plenty of employed people to lay off

- It doesn't mean unemployment rolls go up by 247,000. This is a unilateral metric which ignores new hiring entirely.

- It's a fairly small part of overall labor market churn. On any given week there are about 1.25MM Americans leaving/losing jobs, slightly more than that getting new ones, and well over 5MM job openings seeking new hires.

and still difficult for older workers

People spend, cautiously, but some retailers still struggle

Rising oil prices and food will put a damper on it all

Though there is much to celebrate out of all that

I see the article ran this week.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics used to publish something called the Occupational Outlook Quarterly. They do not publish it anymore. There is still an Occupational Outlook Handbook, though it might exist only online. Here is a link to a chart from last December:

Fastest Growing Occupations

Fastest growing occupations: 20 occupations with the highest percent change of employment between 2014-24.

Click on an occupation name to see the full occupational profile.

OCCUPATION GROWTH RATE, 2014-24 2015 MEDIAN PAY
Wind turbine service technicians Growth Rate 108% $51,050 per year
Occupational therapy assistants Growth Rate 43% $57,870 per year
Physical therapist assistants Growth Rate 41% $55,170 per year
Physical therapist aides Growth Rate 39% $25,120 per year
Home health aides Growth Rate 38% $21,920 per year
Commercial divers Growth Rate 37% $50,470 per year
Nurse practitioners Growth Rate 35% $98,190 per year
Physical therapists Growth Rate 34% $84,020 per year
Statisticians Growth Rate 34% $80,110 per year
Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians Growth Rate 33% $23,740 per year
Occupational therapy aides Growth Rate 31% $27,800 per year
Physician assistants Growth Rate 30% $98,180 per year
Operations research analysts Growth Rate 30% $78,630 per year
Personal financial advisors Growth Rate 30% $89,160 per year
Cartographers and photogrammetrists Growth Rate 29% $61,880 per year
Genetic counselors Growth Rate 29% $72,090 per year
Interpreters and translators Growth Rate 29% $44,190 per year
Audiologists Growth Rate 29% $74,890 per year
Hearing aid specialists Growth Rate 27% $49,600 per year
Optometrists Growth Rate 27% $103,900 per year

them? Though it does hold out hope that we can all be wind turbine technicians some day. rofl:

Here's another chart from our labor folks, not nearly as optimistic, but dealing with jobs where there are 50K + openings...but alphabetical. Probably more likely where they got their data,damn sure more realistic

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm?pay=&education=&training=&newjobs=50%2C000+or+more&growth=&submit=GO

Accountants and auditors Bachelor's degree None 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $55,000 to $74,999
Bartenders No formal educational credential Short-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent Less than $25,000
Billing and posting clerks High school diploma or equivalent Moderate-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $35,000 to $54,999
Carpenters High school diploma or equivalent Apprenticeship 50,000 or more 0 to 9 percent $35,000 to $54,999
Cashiers No formal educational credential Short-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 0 to 9 percent Less than $25,000
Childcare workers High school diploma or equivalent Short-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 0 to 9 percent Less than $25,000
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food No formal educational credential Short-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent Less than $25,000
Computer and information systems managers Bachelor's degree None 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $75,000 or more
Computer systems analysts Bachelor's degree None 50,000 or more 20 to 29 percent $75,000 or more
Computer user support specialists Some college, no degree None 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $35,000 to $54,999
Construction laborers No formal educational credential Short-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $25,000 to $34,999
Cooks, restaurant No formal educational credential Moderate-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent Less than $25,000
Customer service representatives High school diploma or equivalent Short-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $25,000 to $34,999
Dental assistants Postsecondary nondegree award None 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $35,000 to $54,999
Electricians High school diploma or equivalent Apprenticeship 50,000 or more 10 to 19 percent $35,000 to $54,999
Elementary school teachers, except special education Bachelor's degree Internship/residency 50,000 or more 0 to 9 percent $35,000 to $54,999
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics Postsecondary nondegree award None 50,000 or more 20 to 29 percent $25,000 to $34,999
Food preparation workers No formal educational credential Short-term on-the-job training 50,000 or more 0 to 9 percent Less than $25,000

The story is based on data that come from the BLS, but there is no link to the BLS in the article. I wanted to know more about the story, such as when the data were released by the BLS.

I was playing with the hand you dealt me. The CNN story was about the fastest growing jobs, not the ones with the greatest number of openings. I wanted to see the newest information the BLS had along those lines.

The newest article I could find on the BLS website that dealt with the fastest growing occupations was the one I linked to. Wind turbine service technicians were at the top of the list. Granted, if there were only (say) 10,000 wind turbine service technicians in the country in 2014, a growth rate of 108% over the next ten years gives you only 20,800 wind turbine service technicians by 2024.

You subsequently linked to a BLS site listing occupations with over 50,000 openings, in alphabetical order. That's a different thing.

If you or CNN want to provide me with another link regarding the fastest growing occupations, I'd be more than happy to look at it.

Best wishes.

ETA: Forbes has it too. It's a listicle, and I don't click through listicles.

of lying spin isn't helping them.

Best wishes to you too.

If it were true that new jobs were overwhelmingly low pay more than jobs being lost, the BLS data wouldn't look like this, which shows median pay increasing in both real and nominal terms.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t01.htm

And median data by design minimizes skewing. This number is what half the earners make less, and half more, than.

"Easier for your kids to move into a life of servitude than ever..."

Only if you convince them that lower-wage earners are in fact, servants; as a handful of us still like to consider ourselves simply workers and human beings. However, I absolutely understand your desire to label us as servants-- it's very self-validating for a mentally undisciplined mind.

He's ruining the country.

I was congratulated this morning for being employed in my industry. I'm in computers.

Wages are rising and jobs are increasing. Millions of people are going in the opposite direction, sure, but millions more are going in the upward arc, albeit slowly and from a brutal recession. People often seem to confuse data on improvement with claims of perfection. I have no idea why. Improvement, undeniable based on objective aggregate data, does not mean everyone is sitting on a glorious high-pay gravy train.

The CEOs and bankers sure are.

Good to know.

scrubbing toilets for less than 1/2 of what I made before the crash.
I'm a molecular biologist.
I'm over 50.