Economic Trends and Outlook
Based on the Comptroller’s new 13-region economic model of Texas, employment in the Metroplex region (covering a 19-county area centered on the Dallas-Fort Worth and the Sherman-Denison metropolitan areas) is projected to grow at a 1.7 percent annual rate, a growth rate slightly faster than that expected for the state as a whole. Growth should be slower in the early part of this time frame and accelerate later, but overall it will be slightly higher than the 1.6 percent growth rate expected for the state as a whole. By 2005, total employment in the Metroplex region should reach more than 3,961,600, and the region should average adding 97,300 new jobs each year from 2002 to 2005.The Comptroller projects accelerating economic growth for the region after 2002. Although the Metroplex region has generally out-performed Texas as a whole, the next five years should see more subdued growth. The primary challenge for this region will be providing the educational skills needed to train the work force to meet the changing needs of business in an Internet economy and using this period of slower growth to alleviate strains felt within the region as the result of rapid growth.
This report details recent economic changes in the Metroplex region, presents “baseline” economic forecasts for key indicators through 2005, discusses the structural changes that have led and will lead to economic growth in the region, presents a forecast for occupational changes likely in the region over the next five years and identifies possible target industries for future development. Economic development leaders within the region may wish to use this report to guide development of the region’s economy in upcoming years.
The Last 30 Years
The Metroplex region of Texas saw astounding growth during the last 30 years of the 20th century. In real terms (1992 dollars), gross regional product in this region—the sum total of all value added within the region—increased nearly four-fold, rising from $49.3 billion in 1970 to $193.2 billion in 2000 (Graph 1). This is an average annual growth rate of 4.7 percent.
During this time, the population of the Metroplex region more than doubled, rising from 2,649,900 to 5,284,500 million. As a result of strong growth in the value of production in the region and somewhat slower population growth, per capita real incomes rose dramatically over the last 30 years. For example, in real terms (1992 dollars) disposable personal income—income not used to pay federal taxes—rose from $12,600 in 1970 to $23,800 in 2000. This means that the average person or household in the region has 88 percent more real purchasing power in 2000 than they did in 1970.
In terms of jobs, growth in this region was exceptional during much of the 1970s, early 1980s and after the nation started to recover from recession in 1992. From about 1986 to 1992, the region was buffeted with many of the same economic setbacks that hit much of Texas—oil boom and bust, real estate ups and downs, and a national recession in the early 1990s. Starting in 1993, employment growth in the region began growing at 3 to 5 percent each year, only recently slowing due to declines in the communications and transportation industries.
These growth rates determine if the region is playing a larger role in the Texas economy. In terms of population, employment and regional product, the Metroplex region has grown compared with the rest of Texas since 1970. In 1970, the region accounted for 23.5 percent of the state’s population, 25.5 percent of the state’s employment and 25.8 percent of the gross regional product (Graph 2). By the turn of the century, the Metroplex region accounted for 25.9 percent of the state’s population, 29.5 percent of the state’s employment base and 31.9 percent of Texas’ value of production. A good part of this gain came during the early 1980s when much of the rest of Texas was buffeted by economic problems besetting the oil and gas industry. During this period, the Metroplex region fared relatively better than the Gulf Coast region and other more oil-dependent economies.
Shifting Growth Patterns
Within growing economies, important structural shifts occur over time. These shifts often result from regional and even nationwide changes in production, consumption and technology. Understanding these shifts can help identify prospects for future growth within the region.
Table 2 presents the historical employment figures for the Metroplex region for 18 broad industries in 1980, 1990 and 2000. [1] These industries correspond to a functional classification of activities within the region rather than one more traditionally defined through Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes usually used to examine the economic structure of a region. The sectors in this table are ranked according to the average annual growth rate in employment over the last 20 years.
TABLE 2
Metroplex Region Employment and Growth
1980-2000
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Employment in Region Average
Annual
Growth Rate1980 1990 2000 Services to Business 94 228 399 7.5% Healthcare 74 139 192 4.9% Tourism and Entertainment 149 261 379 4.8% Personal Services 68 109 159 4.3% High Tech, Communications, Aviation and Electronics 155 229 307 3.5% Other Services 89 136 168 3.2% Finance, Insurance and Real Estate 182 259 344 3.2% Construction, Building Materials 138 135 258 3.2% Local Government 133 177 247 3.2% Other Transportation and Public Utilities 64 74 110 2.7% Wholesale and Retail Trade 371 480 622 2.6% Agriculture and Agricultural Processing 66 79 98 2.0% State Government 29 34 40 1.6% Federal Government 35 47 46 1.3% Other Non-Durable Goods Manufacturing 79 85 91 0.7% Other Durable Goods Manufacturing 100 99 114 0.6% Oil and Gas Production, Refining and Petrochemicals 60 61 41 (1.8)% Other 7 6 4 (2.4)% Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, topping this list is business services. This growth is largely the result of a long-term reorganization of many existing businesses that increasingly rely on outsourcing. The post-World War II model of industrial organization continues to divide as more and more responsibilities that were previously held within the structure of the parent firm are now outsourced to other companies. In the case of responsibilities such as janitorial services, this is a trend toward specialization. In the case of copy machine repair, or training personnel to use new computer programs, outsourcing is driven by increasing technological sophistication as specially trained workers are needed to operate equipment. Increased use of contract workers that may replace full-time employees is direct outsourcing and drives the growth of business services employment because some of these contract workers are provided through temporary help agencies.
To a large extent the increasing use of contract labor is merely a reshuffling of employment opportunities from other sectors (manufacturing in particular) to this sector. As such, this shift represents a positive change in the productivity and competitiveness of these businesses rather than degradation of manufacturing capacity.
Even the computer industry has seen shifts like these. In the 1970s, this industry was dominated by names like IBM and Wang that built hardware, software and marketed both using their own employees. Now computers are marketed in a wide variety of ways, and few computer manufacturers also are heavily invested in software, or the two functions are separate corporate entities.
The second-fastest growing sector in the Metroplex region during the last 20 years has been health care. Rising health care employment reflects national trends that are dominating regional growth patterns. As incomes grow and as populations age, more and more is spent on health care. The increasing technological sophistication of health care, while improving the effectiveness of health care, also drives up costs. Unfortunately, because health care is a service that most often must be administered by trained professionals on a one-on-one basis, the ability of technological innovations to lower personnel requirements—a byproduct of technology seen in many other industries—has not been as broadly felt in health care. As a result, the demand for health care services has risen rapidly over the past 20 years.
The next two growth sectors also reflect the influence of the “wealth effect.” With rising incomes, consumers can spend more on a broad spectrum of goods and services, but more and more of these expenditure get spent on services rather than things. Rising wealth drives increased expenditures on personal services and allows more leisure time—or at least more money to spend on leisure and entertainment. Rising real incomes are behind many of the gains in the entertainment and tourism and personal services industries.
The fifth fastest growing sector in this region since 1980 has been high tech, communications, aviation and electronics. This region has seen growth in nearly all facets of this industry at different times during this period. In the 1980, the region saw strong growth in aviation (including airlines), but during the 1990s, the story has shifted more to the phenomenal growth of Telecom corridor and other high tech industries. This growth has been nurtured and fed by the skill sets imparted by local higher educational institutions and an educated workforce. But also, the Metroplex has benefited from good in-migration of workforce skills.
At the other end of the growth spectrum are the areas in which the region saw slow growth. In some cases, such as oil and gas, this is part of a much wider trend brought on by the distribution of natural resources and industry consolidation. It should be noted that most of the slow job growth industries, or those actually posting job losses, are also industries which tend to see good productivity gains. Although the job picture for these industries in the region has been less positive, the value of production from these industries has been much stronger.
Identifying Regional Comparative Advantage
One key to understanding how a region’s economy grows and evolves is by appreciating what unique advantages the region provides to certain industries, and how those industries have fared over time.
One device for identifying and summarizing the industries in which a region specializes is through a “location quotient.” This descriptive statistic identifies which industries are unique to a region by comparing the percentage of employment in each industry in the region to the percentage of employment that the same industry accounts for in the nation as a whole. If an industry accounts for more of the region’s total employment than it does of the nation’s, the region is seen as specializing in that industry. Moreover, because the industry has flourished in the region, the region is said to have demonstrated a comparative advantage for that industry. In practice, because of measurement issues, the percentage of an industry in the region’s employment base must usually greatly exceed the national percentage for the industry to be truly considered unique to the region.
The industries with location quotients greater than 1.5 in 2000 in the Metroplex region are identified in Table 3 along with the national employment growth rates from 1990 to 2000 of these industries. This list contains industries that are typically found in any list of industries unique to Texas as well as many industries that are unique to the Metroplex region.
TABLE 3
Location Quotients for Key Industries
in the Metroplex Region
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Location
QuotientNational Employment
Average Annual
Growth Rate
1990-2000Crude Petroleum, Natural Gas and Gas Liquids 4.6 (4.9)% Communications Equipment 4.1 0.6% Aerospace 3.1 (4.6)% Search and Navigation Equipment 3.0 (5.6)% Railroad Equipment 3.0 1.4% Electronic Components and Accessories 2.5 1.6% Nondepository; Holding and Investment Offices 2.3 5.5% Air Transportation 2.3 3.0% Blankbooks and Bookbinding 2.0 (1.2)% Miscellaneous Publishing 2.0 1.2% Miscellaneous Petroleum and Coal Products 1.9 0.7% Communications 1.8 2.4% Stone, Clay, and Misc. Mineral Products 1.7 (0.8)% Personnel Supply Services 1.7 8.2% Miscellaneous Chemical Products 1.6 (0.6)% Partitions and Fixtures 1.6 2.4% Plumbing and Nonelectric Heating Equipment 1.5 0.1% Computer and Data Processing Services 1.5 8.1% Wood Buildings and Mobile Homes 1.5 5.7% Four of the top six industries on this list are directly related to the high tech/communications/aviation sectors with an additional two— communications and computer programming—a little further down the list. First in this list is the Texas’ traditional strength, oil and gas activity, with other components of this industry also present on this list.
But while the location quotient is a useful measure to summarize which industries the region tends to have specialized in the past, it is a static measure. A more dynamic approach looks at the growth of industries in the region and compares that to the growth that might have been expected had they followed the same growth pattern of these industries in other parts of the nation. This dynamic approach to looking at the region’s economic structure is known as shift-share analysis.
Like the location quotient, the approach in shift-share analysis is to develop a standard through which to assess if the currently observed level of industry concentration in a region is higher than expected, about what should be expected, or less than expected. If local employment is greater than might otherwise be expected, then the region has demonstrated some strength in attracting the growth of that industry. In practice, the yardstick usually employed is changes in each industry in the national economy, modified somewhat for local conditions.
One result of shift-share analysis is the “regional industry growth differential.” This measure is the ratio of what employment in an industry in the region actually was in the most recent period divided by what industry employment would have been if it had historically grown at the same rate as the industry did across the nation. The interpretation of this measure of dynamic growth potential is that it represents the number of times larger (or smaller) actual employment is in the most recent time period compared to what it would have been if the industry had grown at the same rate as the industry did across the nation. In practice, industries identified as unique in the region through the location quotient measure tend to be those that have demonstrated a sustained period of economic strength in the region, whereas those identified by the growth differential measure can be those starting to show some emerging strength.
Table 4 presents the industries in the Metroplex region that have a regional industry growth differential greater than 1.25 and employed at least 200 workers in 2000. The average annual rate of employment growth in the industry from 1980 to 2000 in the Metroplex region is also shown. The 1.25 cut-off point indicates that industry employment in 2000 in the region was 25 percent larger than would have been expected based on the industry’s employment in 1980 and the growth of the region and industry nationwide from 1980 to 2000. In the same sense as with the static location quotient, these industries have demonstrated a significant level of concentration over time in the Metroplex region and by this growth show that this region has some comparative advantage in their development.
TABLE 4
Industry Growth Differentials in the Metroplex Region
for Industries with at least 200 Employees in 2000
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Industry Regional
Industry Growth
DifferentialAverage Annual
Employment Growth
1980 -2000Communications 1.95 6.0% Primary Nonferrous Smelting and Refining 1.63 0.2% Iron and Steel Foundries 1.62 1.4% Blast Furnaces and Basic Steel Products 1.62 (0.5)% Nonferrous Foundries 1.62 4.0% Nonferrous Rolling and Drawing 1.62 2.5% All Other Primary Metals 1.62 3.3% Ophthalmic Goods 1.50 2.6% Medical Equipment, Instruments and Supplies 1.50 5.6% Search and Navigation Equipment 1.50 0.3% Measuring and Controlling Devices 1.50 2.8% Photographic Equipment and Supplies 1.50 0.7% Watches, Clocks, and Parts 1.50 (1.7)% Railroad Transportation 1.35 (1.7)% Agricultural Services 1.28 7.4% Forestry, Fishing, Hunting, and Trapping 1.28 2.8% Pipelines, Except Natural Gas 1.25 0.7% There is some overlap between this list and Table 3, but it is far from complete. Many more of the industries related to supplying and supporting the manufacture of high tech products, communication and aviation industries appear on Table 4. This indicates that although the Metroplex region has not yet achieved the level of dominance in some of these industries sufficient to merit the structural dominance indicated by a location quotient, the region has shown a dominance in the growth of these industries supporting high tech manufacturing and communication over the last 20 years.
Other industries on this list, most notably those related to primary metal production, appear because the region has largely held its own with employment in these sectors, which is a better record than that posted in these industries nationwide. By comparison, the Metroplex is showing some dominance in the growth of these industries over time, but in many cases this involves achieving a larger part of a shrinking, or at least slowly growing, pie.
Overall, there are some significant trends toward diversification of the industrial base of the Metroplex region including many industries that require highly skilled workers.
Table 4 confirms some of the comparative advantages identified in the location quotient and helps identify others. The important point is that measures such as the location quotient or the industry growth differential identify industries for which the Metroplex region has demonstrated a comparative advantage. These industries define the competitive character of the region, and these measures will be used in the last section of this report to help identify industries with strong potential to help the region grow in the future.
Growth Forecasts Through 2005
Forecasted changes in the statewide economy and the strong theoretical framework of the 13-region Texas model allows the estimation of baseline forecasts of growth for each region in Texas. Overall, the Metroplex region is expected to grow slower than the rapid rate seen in the 1990s, but still outperform the state as a whole.
Through 2005, real gross regional product in the region—the total value added through production within the region—should expand at a 2.9 percent annual rate, from $193.2 billion in 1992 dollars in 2000 to $222.7 billion in 2005. During the 1990s, this region saw its real gross regional product expand at slightly more than an 4.9 percent annual rate.
This pattern is likely to be repeated in terms of employment. Through 2005, employment growth in the Metroplex region should average 1.7 percent annually, down from a 3.2 percent posted from 1990 to 2000 in the region, but above the 1.6 percent expected for the state over the next five years. Nonetheless, the Metroplex region should add nearly 97,300 new jobs annually from 2002 to 2005. During the first five years of the millennium, Metroplex employment should rise from 3,634,300 in 2000 to 3,961,600 in 2005. As expected across the state, this rate of growth will be slowest during the next couple of years but will accelerate into 2004 and 2005.
This level of economic growth will accompany only moderate population gains. Population in the Metroplex region is expected to rise from 5,284,500 in 2000 to 5,805,500 in 2005.
The employment growth seen in the region will not fall evenly across all industries, but there are two ways to look at the distribution of this growth. Table 5 presents the 25 top growth industries in the region in terms of the number of new jobs they will generate between 2000 and 2005. Large industries dominate this list because even low growth rates applied to a large employment base generate large numbers of new jobs. The top three industries in Table 5 are also among the largest industries.
TABLE 5
Metroplex Industries Adding the Most Jobs
Between 2000 and 2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Regional Employment Jobs
AddedAverage
Annual
Growth2000 2005 1 Retail Trade, Except Eating and Drinking Places 398,020 435,251 37,231 1.8% 2 Local Government 246,824 277,644 30,820 2.4% 3 Eating and Drinking Places 202,135 232,347 30,212 2.8% 4 Computer and Data Processing Services 81,196 110,772 29,576 6.4% 5 Personnel Supply Services 168,180 180,798 12,618 1.5% 6 Offices of Health Practitioners 65,891 78,464 12,573 3.6% 7 Health Services 33,679 46,067 12,388 6.5% 8 Wholesale Trade 224,158 236,329 12,171 1.1% 9 Construction 228,757 239,727 10,970 0.9% 10 Management and Public Relations 60,468 71,180 10,712 3.3% 11 Communications 69,545 79,467 9,922 2.7% 12 Air Transportation 67,946 76,894 8,948 2.5% 13 Educational Services 44,409 53,190 8,781 3.7% 14 Amusement and Recreation Services 38,049 46,022 7,973 3.9% 15 Automobile Parking, Repair and Services 34,313 41,782 7,469 4.0% 16 Agricultural Services 35,672 42,957 7,285 3.8% 17 Miscellaneous Business Services 89,168 96,028 6,860 1.5% 18 Trucking and Warehousing 74,322 81,078 6,756 1.8% 19 Child Day Care Services 26,329 31,931 5,602 3.9% 20 Hotels and Other Lodging Places 35,594 40,616 5,022 2.7% 21 State Government 39,930 44,916 4,986 2.4% 22 Membership Organizations 43,105 47,942 4,837 2.1% 23 Hospitals 61,955 66,016 4,061 1.3% 24 Nursing and Personal Care Facilities 24,994 28,734 3,740 2.8% 25 Security and Commodity Brokers 27,765 31,090 3,325 2.3% Many of the industries generating large numbers of new jobs in the Metroplex region through 2005 will be driven by changes in consumer expenditure patterns that have been seen over the past few years. For example, there is a continued shift towards expenditures on consumer services such as restaurants, health services and amusement. Many of the industries supplying these services employ a large number of people, so that even modest growth in the demand for these industries can result in some sizeable employment growth.
In other cases, employment of school teachers, police, sanitation workers and most other local government employees will increase as population grows. As a result of even modest population and employment growth and the fact that local government is a significant employer in the region already, this will likely generate nearly 30,820 new jobs over the next few years.
As has been seen in the recent past, health care and computer services will prove a strong job generator in the Metroplex region during the next few years. This should include a broad range of health care professions and nursing services.
A ranking of industries by their likely growth rate from 2000 to 2005, detailed in Table 6, is more revealing of some of the developing forces driving changes in the Metroplex region. More technical, higher skilled workers are needed in these jobs. Topping this list of high-growth industries are jobs in health services, followed closely by computer and data processing services, research and testing services, educational services, management and public relations, and other health care services—all industries that rely on a well-trained, highly educated work force.
TABLE 6
25 Fastest Growing Industries in the Metroplex Region
2000 to 2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Regional Employment Jobs
GainedGrowth 2000 2005 1 Residential Care 5,570 7,755 2,185 6.8% 2 Health Services 33,679 46,067 12,388 6.5% 3 Computer and Data Processing Services 81,196 110,772 29,576 6.4% 4 Water and Sanitation 2,548 3,399 851 5.9% 5 Miscellaneous Transportation Services 5,332 7,060 1,728 5.8% 6 Museums, Botanical, Zoological Gardens 890 1,152 262 5.3% 7 Passenger Transportation Arrangement 6,556 8,485 1,929 5.3% 8 Local and Interurban Passenger Transit 7,836 9,860 2,024 4.7% 9 Individual and Miscellaneous Social Services 7,849 9,836 1,987 4.6% 10 Automobile Parking, Repair, and Services 34,313 41,782 7,469 4.0% 11 Child Day Care Services 26,329 31,931 5,602 3.9% 12 Amusement and Recreation Services 38,049 46,022 7,973 3.9% 13 Agricultural Services 35,672 42,957 7,285 3.8% 14 Research and Testing Services 10,559 12,677 2,118 3.7% 15 Educational Services 44,409 53,190 8,781 3.7% 16 Job Training and Related Services 1,904 2,269 365 3.6% 17 Offices of Health Practitioners 65,891 78,464 12,573 3.6% 18 Commercial Sports 5,239 6,238 999 3.6% 19 Medical Equipment, Instruments and Supplies 3,212 3,813 601 3.5% 20 Ophthalmic Goods 364 430 66 3.4% 21 Management and Public Relations 60,468 71,180 10,712 3.3% 22 Books 2,263 2,648 385 3.2% 23 Water Transportation 1,713 1,987 274 3.0% 24 Jewelry, Silverware, and Plated Ware 958 1,111 153 3.0% 25 Toys and Sporting Goods 1,579 1,823 244 2.9% The importance of education and the need for work force training is most apparent when looking at how this projected industrial growth translates into occupational change. Table 7 presents the forecast for the 25 occupations expected to add the most positions over the next five years. As in the case of the 25 industries adding the most jobs, this list tends to be dominated by occupations that employ a lot of people at the start of the forecast period, and grow moderately thereafter.
TABLE 7
Occupations in the Metroplex Region Adding the Most Positions
2000-2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Occupations 2000 2005 Occupation
Job GainAverage
Annual
Growth1 Food Preparation and Service 214,456 240,818 26,362 2.3% 2 Managerial and Administrative 263,192 286,678 23,486 1.7% 3 Computer Scientists, Mathematicians and Operations Researchers 61,164 83,774 22,610 6.5% 4 Other Clerical and Administrative Support Workers 227,428 245,421 17,993 1.5% 5 Motor Vehicle Operators 119,607 133,784 14,177 2.3% 6 Teachers, Librarians, Counselors 82,367 96,273 13,906 3.2% 7 Helpers, Laborers and Material Movers, Hand 160,777 173,296 12,519 1.5% 8 Protective Service 91,339 103,631 12,292 2.6% 9 Salespersons, Retail 108,034 119,523 11,489 2.0% 10 Personal Service 61,004 72,192 11,188 3.4% 11 Cashiers 87,630 98,471 10,841 2.4% 12 Management Support 131,424 142,239 10,815 1.6% 13 All Other Sales and Related Workers 113,261 124,012 10,751 1.8% 14 Health Assessment and Treating 52,073 60,102 8,029 2.9% 15 Health Technicians and Technologists 49,189 56,932 7,743 3.0% 16 Health Service 43,621 51,356 7,735 3.3% 17 Construction Trades 130,031 137,334 7,303 1.1% 18 Social, Recreational and Religious Workers 33,089 40,289 7,200 4.0% 19 Information Clerks 59,837 66,211 6,374 2.0% 20 Material Receivers, Schedulers, Dispatchers and Distributors 117,614 123,617 6,003 1.0% 21 Marketing and Sales Worker Supervisors 52,806 58,686 5,880 2.1% 22 Vehicle and Mobile Equipment Mechanics and Repairmen 44,958 49,972 5,014 2.1% 23 Other Mechanics, Installers and Repairmen 40,389 45,247 4,858 2.3% 24 Adjusters, Investigators and Collectors 38,557 43,089 4,532 2.2% 25 Technicians, Except Health, Engineering and Science 42,550 47,054 4,504 2.0% For example, the 13-region model breaks regional employment into 94 occupations. In the case of the Metroplex region, this would mean each occupational category would contain an average of about 38,600 people. Since only two of the top 25 occupational categories generating the most jobs in the region through 2005 have fewer than this average, and most have at least twice that number of jobs, Table 7 identifies primarily those occupations that are growing and employ a large number of workers. Most of these large occupational categories will see moderate growth rates over the next few years, but because of their size generate a large number of new positions. But in some cases, expected rapid growth rates in smaller occupational categories will drive large occupational growth, as is the case with computer scientists.
Table 8 presents the 25 occupational categories expected to grow at the fastest rates though 2005. In this list, the importance of future training and education is evident. It is led by the need for additional computer scientists, followed closely by health care diagnosticians, life scientists, health service workers, teachers, librarians and counselors, health technicians and technologists, health assessment technicians, social scientists, and other professional workers. Of the top 25 occupations expected to grow the fastest during the next five years, 12 will require some advanced training beyond high school, and most of these will require either an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree or other advanced degrees. More than 40 percent of the jobs gained in the top 25 fastest growing occupations from 2000 to 2005 will require similar advanced training and education.
TABLE 8
25 Fastest Growing Occupations in the Metroplex Region
2000-2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Occupations 2000 2005 Occupational
GainAverage
Annual Gain1 Computer Scientist, Mathematicians and Operations Researchers 61,164 83,774 22,610 6.5% 2 Social, Recreational and Religious Workers 33,089 40,289 7,200 4.0% 3 Health Diagnosing 12,049 14,334 2,285 3.5% 4 Personal Service 61,004 72,192 11,188 3.4% 5 Life Scientists 4,313 5,090 777 3.4% 6 Health Service 43,621 51,356 7,735 3.3% 7 Teachers, Librarians, Counselors 82,367 96,273 13,906 3.2% 8 All Other Transportation and Materials Moving Equipment Operators 7,142 8,308 1,166 3.1% 9 Health Technicians and Technologists 49,189 56,932 7,743 3.0% 10 Health Assessment and Treating 52,073 60,102 8,029 2.9% 11 Rail Transportation Workers 2,563 2,951 388 2.9% 12 Animal Borders and Trainers; Caretakers, except Farm 3,208 3,651 443 2.6% 13 Water and Liquid Waste Treatment Plant and Systems Operators 2,732 3,107 375 2.6% 14 Protective Service 91,339 103,631 12,292 2.6% 15 Electric Power Generating Plant Operators 827 935 108 2.5% 16 All Other Service Workers 32,904 37,074 4,170 2.4% 17 All Other Professional Workers 22,638 25,488 2,850 2.4% 18 Cashiers 87,630 98,471 10,841 2.4% 19 Food Preparation and Service 214,456 240,818 26,362 2.3% 20 Counter and Rental Clerks 16,490 18,512 2,022 2.3% 21 Social Scientists 5,739 6,441 702 2.3% 22 Other Mechanics, Installers and Repairmen 40,389 45,247 4,858 2.3% 23 Motor Vehicle Operators 119,607 133,784 14,177 2.3% 24 Adjustors, Investigators and Collectors 38,557 43,089 4,532 2.2% 25 Writers, Artists and Entertainers 37,446 41,808 4,362 2.2%
Endnote[1] State and Local government sectors were not defined separately until 1979.