South Dakota Occupational Projections 2004-2014, Occupational Outlook Guide

The job outlook is a descriptor that ranks the job opportunities for the specific occupation, from the perspective of the job seeker or career planner. There are five descriptors: very unfavorable, unfavorable, fair, favorable and very favorable. The job outlook descriptor is based on three factors. One factor is the projected demand for new workers in an occupation in South Dakota compared to the estimated supply of workers in the state. The demand to supply comparison is rated from very unfavorable to very favorable. Occupations that will require new workers and have a limited supply of workers competing for those jobs get the higher rating.

The second factor is South Dakota worker trend. South Dakota worker trend is based on the worker growth rate for an occupation and is compared to the average growth for all occupations. Based on that comparison, the South Dakota worker trend is given a rating from very unfavorable to very favorable, with the fastest growing occupations getting the best rating.

The third factor is the national worker growth rate from 2004-2014. Again, the fastest growing occupations get the best rating. The national worker growth rate is used to provide another perspective to the overall job outlook. In some cases, an occupation could be growing at a much different rate nationally than in South Dakota. So, the national growth rate is an important factor in providing the best overall job outlook. Using the descriptors for the supply/demand rating, the South Dakota percent worker trend and the national percent worker growth, an overall descriptor is given to each occupation. That descriptor rates the overall job outlook from very unfavorable to very favorable.

	Labor Market Information Center SD DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

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