What’s hot, and what’s not, in the workplace
Kai Ryssdal: How about a translation of the actual Bureau of Labor Statistics report? How’re you supposed to know what jobs are hot, and what jobs are not?
Marketplace’s Sally Herships has that.
Sally Herships: Temp workers of America: I have some good news — or depending on your ambition — bad news for you. Temp jobs right now: hot. If you want to see the numbers for yourself, they’re in the jobs report.
Linda Barrington: The industry category is employment services and within that there’s a sub category which is temporary help services. Those are your temp agencies.
Linda Barrington is director of the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell. There were 21,000 new temp workers this month. Also hot, with 26,000 new jobs: accommodation and food services.
Barrington: Big industry. But adding more in food services and drinking places than in accommodation.
So lots of gigs for bartenders and waitresses. How ’bout – do you wanna get a job as a bus driver?
Barrington: You do not. So transit and ground passenger transportation lost 11,000 jobs.
Equally not hot: jobs in local government. Factory work, lukewarm — but better if you’re making things out of metal. Hot: Jobs for nurses and other hands on health workers.
But bottom line, providing services is hot. Making things — not as hot.
In New York, I’m Sally Herships for Marketplace.
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