Growth Industries are Where the Jobs Are

In his book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman lays out strategies for staying employed in the new global marketplace. With individuals and companies all over the world able to do everything from manufacturing to design to bookkeeping, it is important to do your homework to make sure you are in a growth industry. This blog post is focused on job growth industries in Utah and the United States.

Best and Worst Jobs
A survey done by CareerCast.com studies the best and worst jobs--The top three are in the field of math. Here is an article about it from the Wall Street Journal.
Wall Street Journal Survey--Best and Worst Jobs

Math Careers
The Brigham Young University Department of Mathematics (BYU Math) has a website (in Beta) that presents a lot of great information about high-paying careers in math.
When Will I Use Math?

Trades
Green Indusrty Jobs
San Francisco Chronicle--"Green Industry a field with a future"

The Utah Technology Council has been tracking specialties in the IT and Life Sciences industries for growth. Here are a few highlights. Data is from the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

Utah Information Technology -- Number of Employees (2001-2006)
Web search portals up 53.30%
Electronic Shopping Auctions up 38.89%
Customer comptuer pregramming services up 17.49%
Computer facilities management services up 12.40%
Utah Life Sciences

Other computer related services down 24.44%
Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing down 23.36%
Cable and other program distribution down 15.65%

Utah Life Sciences -- Average Annual Pay (2001-2006)
Electromedical apparatus mfg up 9.12% ($56,479)
Testing Laboratories up 8.98% ($44,048)
Medical Laboratories up 6.18% ($41,097)
R&D in physical , engineering and life sciences down 1.33% ($63,219)

KSL Channel 5 report on job growth industries in Utah
ksl.com - Despite rough economy, some industries are begging for workers

If you have any links to specific information about growth industries where jobs will be more plentiful in the future, please leave a comment with a link.