0 2 4 6 8 10

Number of industry divisions

Number of industry divisions reporting new or emerging jobs by occupation, 1996

Administrative assistants

Web masters

Convention managers

Environmental engineer

Computer managers

Bankruptcy specialists

Desktop publishing specialists

Utilzation review coodinators

Quality assurance directors

Consumer credit counselors

Resettlement coordinators

Bus aides

Volunteer coordinators

Credentiallers

Development directors

Occupations

Summary 98-11

November 1998

New Occupations Emerging Across Industry Lines

Emerging occupations may be entirelynew, created by changes in technology, society, markets, or regulations.

They may also be existing ones that have

been substantially modified by the same

trends, and are increasing in employment.

Emerging occupations are most often

found in the most rapidly growing or

changing industries. For example, the

services division reported the greatest

number of emerging occupations. (See

table.) Within this division, the industry

groups reporting the most emerging

occupations were social services, health

services, business services, and education. Quite often, such occupations are

specific to an industry—resettlement

coordinators are not often found outside

of their social service niche, nor are bus

aides found outside of educational

services.

Some emerging occupations, however,

are reported in a fairly wide range of

industries. The chart shows the number

of industry divisions containing establishments that reported the new or

emerging occupations in 1996. Administrative assistants, for example, are found

in eight industry divisions; convention

managers in five; web masters in four;

and quality assurance directors in two.

Although downsizing and technological innovations such as personal computers, voice mail, and the like have reduced

the employment of secretaries, administrative assistants are being reported as

new occupations by establishments in

many industries. These workers typically

have more responsibilities than general

secretaries, and often provide high level

support to executive staff. Administrative assistants may also have office

management functions, working with

payroll, budget, or personnel records.

Administrative assistants may also work

independently on projects involving

research and preparing outlines or

presentation materials.

Another occupation that has emerged

in a surprisingly wide variety of industries is convention manager. Convention planning personnel serve as liaison

between their own organization and

various outside vendors providing goods

and services necessary for a convention.

Convention managers coordinate

activities of convention center, hotel,

and banquet personnel in order to make

arrangements for group meetings and

conventions. Convention managers

were most prominent in membership

organizations, but were also frequently

reported in business services, educational services, publishing; and social

services.

Web masters or coordinators write

the computer code necessary to publish

or update text and images on Internet

web sites. They design and maintain

Internet web sites. As more and more

organizations project a presence on the

Internet, more of these World Wide Web

workers are being reported. Establishments in the publishing, trade, business

services, and membership organizations

reported growing employment of

Internet personnel.

Environmental engineers work to

ensure compliance with environmental

regulations and company policy. The

work may involve the disposal of

hazardous materials, monitoring

emissions of pollutants, or safety of

employees on the job. Environmental

engineers may also work on environmental impact statements or environmental assessments. Some may work as

contractors advising clients to ensure

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numbers of computer managers.

The Occupational Employment

Statistics (OES) program has compiled

this report of the emerging occupations

that have been reported most frequently

by respondents on the 1996 OES survey.

The survey asks employers to report the

number of people they employ in various

occupational categories. In large

establishments (more than 50 employees), employees who do not fit into an

existing occupation are reported in “all

other” categories. At the end of the

survey form employers are asked to

provide a job title and description for the

“all other” occupations that they believe

to be “numerically important or emerging due to technological change.” Small

establishments (fewer than 50 employees) are asked to report employment that

does not fit into a specific category. OES

staff reviews reports from all establishments and determines which job titles

and descriptions represent emerging

occupations. These occupations were

among those reported in Occupational

Employment and Wages, 1996 (U.S

Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor

Statistics, August 1998, Bulletin 2506).

Number of emerging occupations

by industry division, 1996

 Industry Number

Mining ....................................... 1

Construction .............................. 2

Manufacturing ........................... 6

Transportation,

 communications, gas,

 and electric ............................ 3

Wholesale trade ........................ 5

Retail trade................................ 2

Finance, insurance,

 and real estate ....................... 6

Services .................................... 14

For more information on emerging

occupations, contact the Occupational

Employment Statistics Branch, at (202)

606-6569 or by e-mail

(oesinfo@bls.gov).

Material in this publication is in the

public domain and may be reproduced

without further permission. Appropriate

citation is requested. The information in

this document is available to sensory

impaired individuals upon request.

Voice phone: (202) 606-77278; TDD

phone: (202) 606-5879; TDD Message

referral phone: 1-800-326-2577.

compliance with environmental law and

regulations. These environmental

professionals were most often reported

in the industries most affected by

environmental regulations, such as

paper; fabricated metal; industrial

equipment; electric, gas, and sanitary

services; construction; wholesale trade;

business services; health services;

engineering; and management services.

Technological change continues to

create emerging opportunities in

computer-related occupations. Computer managers are responsible for an

organization’s computer network. They

are increasingly responsible for overseeing the installation, configuration, and

maintenance of both software and hardware in a local area network (LAN),

wide area network (WAN), or Internet/

Intranet system. Computer managers

monitor net- work usage to ensure that

adequate computer service is available

to all users. Their duties may also

include keeping the computer network

secure. Establishments in many industries, including printing and publishing,

wholesale trade, depository institutions,

and services, reported increasing

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