Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

What’s hot, and what’s not, in the workplace

The latest trends in the labor market suggest you’re better off looking for job that produces a service, not a physical product.

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.

Related Topics

Tagged as:

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • Marketplace Tech
    39 minutes ago
    11:03
  • Marketplace
    12 hours ago
    25:19
  • Make Me Smart
    18 hours ago
    19:00
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    20 hours ago
    6:55
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    3 days ago
    56:05
  • Million Bazillion
    24 days ago
    32:45