October 2012: American Job Openings Increase to 5 Million For First Time Since 2008: IT, Engineering, Aerospace, Sales

When it comes to jobs and job openings in America, the media and many individuals focus on monthly national labor reports. Economic and employment analysts often concentrate on 10-year industry and job projections. Many reporters and other individuals point to biased numbers of jobs created monthly, not attending to the number of jobs lost in the same month, and visa versa. Attend we must, if we are to have the truth.

With over 15 years experience in workforce development in the private sector and under federal grants awarded during the Clinton and Bush 43 Administrations, I think it is more useful to look at federal and state projections compared to actual advertised job openings and to look at total job opening numbers themselves. I check total numbers of job openings in the USA at least every other day and analyze the mix of jobs available and the Education and Training required to fulfill their requirements.

For the first time since 2008, I find 5,000,000 job openings available in the US today on 10-5-2012 and this does not included the hidden job market or the underground economy.

Backtracking a bit, this increase from 4.2 to 4.4 million jobs available on any day from January 2009 through September 2012 is interesting, given that the first Presidential Debate for Election 2012 occurred on Wednesday October 3. Suddenly, we have 600,000 to 800,000 more job listings, and most of these additional listings occurred in the three days encompassing October 2 through October 5.

One all-sources Internet Job Search and Trending engine, SimplyHired.com states that since November 2009, job listings have increased significantly. Actually, this leap has occurred in the first week of October 2012, since job numbers were pretty flat during 2009 and rose very gradually from 2010 - September 2012. From 2007 - 2008 I regularly found listings of 5,000,000 to over 6,000,000 job openings on any given day.

Between October 2 and October 5, 2012 there appear 1,400,000 NEW job listings.

How is this possible? Did various town criers' announcements that Mitt Romney won the first Presidential Debate allow business people to feel "safe" and list more jobs? I know gasoline prices decreased in my city 30¢ per gallon compared to last week. I think it more than coincidence that non-seasonal job listings increased around the debate. I do not find it coincidental that many of these newest jobs are connects to the Aerospace Industry and NASA Commercial Crew, which I have point out as growing entities in related Hubs for the last year.

Summary of highest-demand newest job listings (regular, non-seasonal, full-time and part-time):

1. IT Jobs - Auditors, analysts, programmers, technologists, product managers, security - 400,000+ new listings, many in Aerospace* and Healthcare. These jobs are listed by Aerotek, Cybercoders, AT&T, Genesis Healthcare, and a few smaller companies.
2. Salespeople - 289,800 new jobs. Upswings in retail positions indicates both employee turnover and new growth in jobs.
3. Engineers, all fields - 140,000 new jobs, some overlap with "IT" above . Major employers hiring are Cybercoders, General Dynamics IT, Aerotek, AT&T, Lockheed Martin (part of NASA Commercial Crew), Boeing (NASA Commericial Crew), US Air Force, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Army National Guard. *
4. RNs - registered nurses - 157,900+ jobs
5. Sales Representatives - 81,800 jobs, including Healthcare, IT products, Aerospace, and several others.
6. Truck Drivers - 17,400+ jobs
7. Physical Therapists - 11,800+ jobs
8. Occupational Therapist - 10,100+ jobs
9. Physicians, MD or DO - 6,400 jobs
10. Shift Supervisors - Casual dining, coffee shops, cafes, diners - 4,370 jobs

*Aerospace jobs overall increased over 25,000 during the four days ending October 5. employers are nearly all part of the NASA Commercial Crew, who, along with Google, is increasing jobs for space exploration. Employers hiring: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, United Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Aerotek, PDS Technical Services, Goodrich, Army National Guard, Sierra Nevada, US Navy.

It is easy to notice that the federal projections for the Top 15 Growing Jobs in the USA do not match advertized jobs overall. Actual high demand job listings include job titles that require more education and experience than most oft he job listed below. The pay is lower in many of the projected job titles as well.

Projected Largest Numbers of Openings:

1. Home health aides
2. Personal care aides
3. Combination food prep/service workers,
4. Customer service representatives
5. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers
6. Postsecondary teachers (college level)
7. Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants
8. Childcare workers
9. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks
10. Cashiers
11. Elementary school teachers, mainstram
12. Receptionists and information clerks
13. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping
14. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers
15. Sales representatives

Projected Fastest Growth Jobs:

1. Personal care aides
2. Home health aides
3. Biomedical engineers
4. Helpers--brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble setters
5. Helpers--carpenters
6. Veterinary technologists and technicians
7. Reinforcing iron and rebar workers
8. Physical therapist assistants
9. Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters
10. Meeting, convention, and event planners
11. Diagnostic medical sonographers
12. Occupational therapy assistants
13. Physical therapist aides
14. Glaziers
15. Interpreters and translators