Georgia area occupational trends: WIA area #14 - lower Chattahoochee, projections to 2010 [2003]

Occupations with Most Annual Openings

Cashiers Retail Salespersons Waiters & Waitresses Comb. Food Prep. & Serving Workers, Incl. Fast Food Farmers & Ranchers Customer Service Representatives Laborers & Freight, Stock, & Material Movers, Hand
Registered Nurses General & Operations Managers
Office Clerks, General Security Guards
Computer Support Specialists Stock Clerks & Order Fillers Child Care Workers
Computer Softw are Engineers, Applications Elementary School Teachers, Ex. Spec. Ed.

170 140 140 130 120 100 100 90 70 70 70 60 60 50 50 50

Most of the annual openings in this list will result from the need to replace workers who change jobs rather than from new job creation.
Three of these jobs are directly related to healthcare or computer technology.
Ten require short-term on-the-job training of one month or less.
Although these occupations have many projected annual openings, more than half of them pays less than average wages.

Occupations with Largest Declines

-130 -120

-90 -90
-70 -70
-60 -60
-50 -50 -50 -50 -50
-40 -40

Maids & Housekeeping Cleaners Postal Service Mail Carriers Cooks, Fast Food Postal Serv. Mail Sorters, Processors, & Process. Mach. Opers. Construction Laborers Dishw ashers Machine Feeders & Of fbearers Secretaries, Except Legal, Medical, & Executive Carpenters Insurance Claims & Policy Processing Clerks Meat, Poultry, & Fish Cutters & Trimmers Order Clerks Tellers Slaughterers & Meat Packers Textile Wind., Tw ist., & Draw . Out Mach. Setrs., Opers., & Tndrs.

The occupations in this list are declining due to many factors, including technological advances, office automation and foreign competition.
One of these jobs is found mainly in textiles and apparel manufacturing.
Two are in clerical jobs with increasingly automated duties.

Georgia Area
Occupational Trends
Projections to 2010
WIA Area # 14 Lower Chattahoochee
This area is made up of eight counties in west Georgia in and around the city of Columbus. It includes the following counties: Chattahoochee, Clay, Harris, Muscogee, Quitman, Randolph, Stewart, and Talbot.
Workforce Information & Analysis Division Georgia Department of Labor Michael L. Thurmond Commissioner

Total employment in WIA Area #14 is expected to reach more than 144,500 jobs by the year 2010, with more than 1,600 new jobs added each year. The area's economy is currently lagging behind both the state's and the nation's economy. Area job growth is expected to be 1.2 percent per year, while Georgia's expected job growth is expected to be 1.8 percent per year and the nation is expected to have annual job growth of 1.4 percent.
Area Highlights
This area is the home of a regional medical center and a major military base.
It is also the location of a major international insurer, as well as a major credit card holding company.
Substantial employment can be found in health services, education services, insurance, finance, food processing, textile mills, and federal government service.
Area population grew by only 4.3 percent over the ten years from 1990 to 2000, among the smallest increases in the state. In contrast, the state of Georgia grew at a rate of 25.8 percent over the same period.
This area's total personal income grew at a modest rate of 68.3 percent for the period, while Georgia's total personal income growth was 98.2 percent.
For copies of the Georgia Career Planner, Georgia Occupational Trends in Brief
or this publication, call 404/232-3875 or contact your local
Department of Labor office.

Fastest Growing Occupations

Computer Softw are Engineers, Applications Computer Support Specialists
Customer Service Representatives Security Guards
Registered Nurses Comb. Food Prep. & Serving Workers, Incl. Fast Food
General & Operations Managers Office Clerks, General
Laborers & Freight, Stock, & Material Movers, Hand Child Care Workers
Farmers & Ranchers Cashiers
Waiters & Waitresses Elementary School Teachers, Ex. Spec. Ed.
Retail Salespersons

3.5% 2.7% 2.4% 1.8% 1.6% 1.4% 1.3% 1.1% 1.1% 1.1% 1.0% 0.9% 0.4%

7.9% 7.5%

Occupations with Largest Job Growth

Customer Service Representatives Farmers & Ranchers
Computer Support Specialists Registered Nurses
Computer Software Engineers, Applications Security Guards
General & Operations Managers C as hiers
Comb. Food Prep. & Serving Workers, Incl. Fast Food Laborers & Freight, Stock, & Material Movers, Hand Office Clerks, General Computer Systems Analysts Nursing Aides, Orderlies, & Attendants Network & Computer Systems Administrators Team Assemblers

600 510 450 380 350 340 310 290 290 280 270 250 250

830 770

These fast-growing occupations will have better employment prospects than occupations with slow or declining employment. Also, conditions will be more favorable for mobility and advancement.
The top two fastest growing occupations are associated with computer technology.
Three are found mainly in health services or are computerrelated.
Several of these occupations have higher than average wages.

These 15 occupations out of more than 700 - are projected to add about 6,200 jobs over the next 10 years, about 38 percent of all projected job growth in this area.
Eight occupations require short-term on-the-job training of one month or less and four require a bachelor's degree
Four of these occupations are computer-related.
Eleven of these occupations also appear in the chart of the fastest growing occupations.

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