Nancy Folbre economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, and by all accounts, she is one smart cookie. Case in point, she reported on “The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the US Labor Market” that said (among other stuff) that “Employment growth is ‘polarizing’ into approximately high-skill, high-wage jobs and low-skill, low-wage jobs.” Oy! In other words, the more proficient you are, the more likely you are to keep working.
Okay, so no big inspiration there. But consider something else she says in her report, “Key contributors to job polarisation are the automation of routine work and the international integration of labour markets.” in other words… outsourcing.
This had me thinking about a few things. First, why are some jobs (or rather, so many jobs) outsourced? For short attention spans, here is the gist.
Causes why jobs are outsourced:
- It can be automated.
- It does not require physical vicinity or person-specific skills.
- It is considerably cheaper to produce somewhere else.
Okay, so after thinking that, I began to wonder if there was a list of jobs somewhere that show you what occupations are most likely (and least likely) to be outsourced? I mean, if you had a record like that, it could go a long way towards helping you adjust your career. I mean, why knock yourself out getting a degree or training in a job that might be shipped to India one day? And if its hard now to get a job doing what I do, how much harder will it be to work later (even when the economy comes back) when nobody in the country needs my skills? Ugh!
Okay, so I looked around and I found out that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics put together some research that answered my questions. I decided to share the data here because… I can. So, there you go. Below are the top 10 results of jobs that will most likely, least likely be outsourced and the top 10 jobs that are in between. I have also included the actual report from the BLS below as well in case you want to go through it yourself. (Hey, if you are a US Citizen, your tax dollars paid for it! So go ahead and consume the data.)
Hope this helps!
-Jim
TOP 10 JOBS THAT WILL MOST LIKELY BE OUTSOURCED
- Pharmacy Technicians
- Parts Salespersons
- Computer Programmers
- Telephone Operators
- Billing and posting clerks and machine operators
- Data Entry Keyers
- Computer Operators
- Word Processors and Typists
- Medical Transcriptionists
- Tax Preparers
TOP 10 JOBS THAT WILL LEAST LIKELY BE OUTSOURCED
- Training and Development Managers
- Training and Development Specialists
- Financial Managers
- Meeting and Convention Planners
- Loan Counselors
- Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors
- Sociologists
- Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers
- Food Scientists and Technologists
- Urban and Regional Planners
TOP 10 JOBS THAT ARE IN BETWEEN “MOST LIKELY AND “LEAST LIKELY” TO BE OUTSOURCED
- Historians
- Logisticians
- Database Administrators
- Aerospace Engineers
- Operations Research Analysts
- Computer Hardware Engineers
- Marine Engineers and Naval Architects
- Chemists
- Microbiologists
- Film and Video Editors