I have rediscovered the Bureau of Labor Statistics website after reading the source of a CNN.com article. One of the most interesting aspects of their site is the Occupational Outlook Handbook which does just what its name suggests.

If you haven't been there recently, let me tell you a bit about how helpful this site is. You can query its database for a variety of statistical data as collected over the past 40+ years, including salaries per career and the value of a "basket of goods" as tracked over time. I'm particularly interested in its 10-year job outlook per field.

For industrial designers, the full outlook is available here. Although a bit broad like a fortune cookie prediction, they seem to be on the money when they say,

"Employment [for industrial designers] is expected to grow about as fast as average. Keen competition for jobs is expected; those with strong backgrounds in engineering and computer-aided design and extensive business expertise will have the best prospects."

From further reading of their analysis, it seems that my mechanical engineering background and experience in UI design will prove to be helpful. Elsewhere, in an article about "Tomorrow's Jobs" they cite:

"The long-term shift from goods-producing to service-providing employment is expected to continue. Service-providing industries are expected to account for approximately 15.7 million new wage and salary jobs generated over the 2006-2016 period (Chart 4), while goods-producing industries will see overall job loss."

It seems that my shift towards scripting with databases may prove to be a more sustainable direction, in the big picture. Not only is it a "service", but it is a money saving service with direct results ranging from faster product-cycle to less waste through fewer communication errors. The OOH is very positive about database administrators and predicts this field to be in high demand.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with their analysis?