According to a recent labor market information report, these and other jobs are among cutting-edge careers considered so new that anyone who has been on the job for even a short time would most likely know very little about them. The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics characterizes emerging occupations as new occupations created by changes in technology, society, markets or regulations. An emerging occupation also might be an existing job category that has been substantially modified by the same changes and that is experiencing an increase in employment numbers. Many of these new job titles, such as Internet specialist or restorative justice technician, require new job skills. Others are existing jobs that require new skill sets, like web master or desktop publisher.
Some industries are more likely to produce more new and emerging occupations than others.
As you might expect, high technology ranked number one in new job titles, followed by industrial safety, health delivery and medical sciences. A much higher growth rate of new job titles is occurring in business services, nutrition, professional training, printing, telecommunications and other related services. In the past few years, it has become apparent that the state is losing many old-line manufacturing jobs and companies here in Missouri, particularly in the shoe and apparel industries. One of the most significant reasons for these losses is the fact that they are low-tech jobs that can be performed off shore at a much cheaper cost to the company. But we must not lose sight that while some occupations may become obsolete because of technological advances, other jobs will be created by these new technologies.