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

      Changing technology will tend to limit the growth of composing-room
   occupations; a new group of composing room occupations, usually made up of
   photocompositors is becoming important. In phototypesetting, a photographic
   process replaces the function of the hot metal, and final product is a film
   or photographic paper print of the type rather than a metal slug (1959
   edition, pp. 338, 340).

      Over the past decade there has been an increasing use of automatically
   operated typesetting machines activated by an electronic device into which
   perforated tapes are fed; computers, recently introduced, are programmed to
   perforate the codes for spacing, length of line, and hyphenation (1968-69
   edition, p. 450).

      The most advanced method of typesetting uses electronic phototypesetting
   equipment (1978-79 edition, p. 49).

      The most advanced method of typesetting--called electronic
   pagination--is in limited commercial use at present; keyboarding of text
   may be done by typesetters or data entry clerks at the printing
   establishment or, increasingly, by the author before the job is sent out
   for composition (1988-89 edition, p. 356).

      Because of advances in computer software and printing technology, much
   of the typesetting and page layout work is increasingly done by customers
   on their computers and this change, called "desktop publishing," poses new
   challenges for the printing industry. The industry is rapidly moving toward
   complete "digital imaging," by which customers' material received on
   computer disks is converted directly into printing plates (1998- 99
   edition, pp. 443-44).

2. Demand. In 1950, nearly 44,000 persons worked as blacksmiths. This number had dwindled to 11,000 by the time the occupation was last covered in the Handbook (the 1980- 81 edition). The number declined due to the greater use of machines in forge shops to produce many of the metal articles that were formerly handmade by blacksmiths. In addition, welders were doing much of the metal repair work once done by blacksmiths.

Agriculture and railroads were robust sectors of the economy 50 years ago. Agricultural production employed roughly 1 in 8 workers; railroads provided roughly 1 in 30 jobs. Thus, the authors of the first Handbook saw fit to devote considerable space to discussions of employment opportunities on 26 different kinds of farms and for 15 different railroad occupations. Today, these industry sectors account for only about 1 in 40 workers and I in 500 jobs, respectively. Accordingly, the 1998-99 Handbook has just a single statement covering farmers and farm managers and a single statement on rail transportation workers, four-fifths of whom railroads employ.(9)

Occupations associated with fur manufacturing--fleshers (fur dressers), fur blenders, and fur craftsmen--last appeared in the 1951 Handbook. The number of jobs remaining in the industry and falling employment prospects were the underlying reasons for dropping coverage of these occupations. Employment in the industry was subject to cyclical as well as seasonal swings; fur workers rarely worked full time, year round. By 1947, combined employment in dressing and dyeing plants, fur garment manufacturing, and retail shops was appreciably below the peak level reached in 1927.