Occupational Outlook Handbook: a review of 50 years of change - career services of the Bureau of Labor Statistics - Statistical Data Included

Monthly Labor Review, May, 1999 by Michael J. Pilot

The content of the Handbook has been little altered, but the information has changed significantly to reflect new statistical data, methodological improvements, and shifts in philosophical and societal attitudes

In a September 1, 1948, letter of transmittal to Secretary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin, Commissioner of Labor Statistics Ewan Clague announced that an Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) was "being made available through public sale."(1) The first of 23 editions was published in 1949. (See table 1.)

Table 1. Editions of Occupational Outlook Handbook,
1949-99

    Edition            Year        Bulletin
                     published      number
Number    Year

 1          1949            1949      940
 2          1951            1951      998
 3          1957            1957     1215
 4          1959            1959     1255
 5          1961            1961     1300
 6       1963-64            1963     1375
 7       1966-67            1966     1450
 8       1968-69            1968     1550
 9       1970-71            1970     1650
10       1972-73            1972     1700
11       1974-75            1974     1785
12       1976-77            1976     1875
13       1978-79            1978     1955
14       1980-81      March 1980     2075
15       1982-83      April 1982     2200
16       1984-85      April 1984     2205
17       1986-87      April 1986     2250
18       1988-89      April 1988     2300
19       1990-91      April 1990     2350
20       1992-93        May 1992     2400
21       1994-95        May 1994     2450
22       1996-97   February 1996     2470
23       1998-99    January 1998     2500

The 1949 edition updated and expanded information issued in August 1946 in Veterans' Administration Manual M7-1, titled Occupational Outlook Information. The manual was prepared at the request, and with the financial support, of the Veterans' Administration, which, under the provisions of the 1944 G.I. bill of rights, was authorized to make available information concerning the Nation's needs for general education and trained personnel in the various trades, crafts, and professions.(2)

Prepared in the BLS Occupational Outlook Branch (currently called the Division of Occupational Outlook), the OOH relied on the continued financial support of the Veterans' Administration through a second revision in 1951. Four years later, Congress provided for a program of regular reappraisal of the employment outlook and for up-to-date maintenance of the Handbook and related publications. This action funded the 1957 third edition of the OOH and subsequent biennial revisions, as well as a new periodical, the Occupational Outlook Quarterly, which would provide a "flow of up-to-date information between editions of the Handbook." The Bureau of Labor Statistics produced subsequent editions of the OOH in 1959, 1961, 1963-64, and, biennially, in even-numbered years starting with 1966 and on up to the current 1998-99 edition. (See table 1.)

At first glance, most readers would see a great deal of similarity in the content of the detailed occupational statements in the 1949 and 1998-99 editions of the Handbook. Both volumes contain information about the nature of work; employment; training, qualifications, and advancement; the outlook for various occupations; and earnings and working conditions. Both mention where to find additional information. A detailed examination of the coverage and content of various editions over the course of 50 years, however, reveals significant changes. The purpose of this article is to chronicle the introduction of, and rationale for, some of the major improvements and other changes that occurred and, in the process, illustrate the ever-shifting occupational structure and social environment over the 50-year period.

Occupations and industries

Occupations included in the first edition of the Handbook were "largely those found by the Veterans [sic] Administration to be of major interest to veterans requesting guidance" (p. 5, my italics). Within the span of the next three editions, the perceived target audience of the book broadened as its occupational coverage expanded. The 1951 edition targeted "veterans and other young people" (p. 4), the 1957 edition "school and college students, veterans, and other young people" (p. 4), and the 1959 edition simply all "young people" (p. 4) [my italics in all]. The Bureau dropped references to young people in the 1978-79 edition. By that time, users of the Handbook included reentrants to the labor force, those who were in the process of changing careers, displaced workers, and other jobseekers.

Criteria governing the selection of occupations covered in the Handbook changed very little over the years, until the mid-1980s, when program cuts forced changes in policy. Occupations requiting relatively long periods of training--either formal education or on-the-job training--generally received the most attention, because the need for long-range outlook information is more acute in connection with choosing careers in these occupations. Large occupations providing plentiful job opportunities also received priority, followed by small, but rapidly growing, fields of employment.