| The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) 10-year economic and employment predictions have cheers for computer professionals, but jeers for programmers. Many computer programmers could find themselves out of work, despite the computer professionals’ job market growing at record paces through 2016, according to the BLS’ 10-year economic and employment predictions released Dec. 4.
Network systems and data communications professionals make up the single fastest-growing occupation categorized between 2006 and 2016, increasing by an estimated 53.4 percent. Computer software engineers who work in the application professions sector are not far behind in fourth place and are expected to increase their headcount by 44.6 percent.
Strong growth is expected in seven other computer-related categories, including computer systems analysts (29 percent), computer software engineers who work on systems software (28 percent), database administrators (27 percent), network and computer systems administrators (27 percent), computer and information scientists (22 percent), computer and information systems managers (16 percent), and computer support specialists (13 percent).
However, the good news for IT and technology professionals ends there — computer programmers were listed among the 30 occupations with the largest employment decline in the decade between 2006 and 2016, losing 4.1 percent of its work availability.
Due largely to aging and retiring baby boomers, the labor force as a whole is projected to grow more slowly through 2016. Total U.S. employment is expected to increase by 15.6 million (10 percent) between 2006 and 2016, slightly less than the 15.9 million jobs (12 percent) created during the 1996-2006 decade.
The BLS’ 10-year projections are updated every two years and are widely used in studying long-range employment trends.
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