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

Disaster struck in fiscal year 1978: the Division of Occupational Outlook incurred a drastic cut in funding. The ramifications of this cut affected staffing resources and, consequently, the ability to conduct analyses for the 1982-83 Handbook. The Bureau ceased issuing statements on the outlook for industries, and the 1982-83 edition of the OOH contained none.(4) In addition, two dozen occupational statements were dropped, bringing the reported number of occupational statements in the Handbook down to 251.

The 1982-83 Handbook also adopted a new occupational clustering arrangement, adhering in principle to the system outlined in the 1980 edition of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) manual. This system classified occupations into 20 groups: administrative and managerial occupations; engineers, surveyors, and architects; natural scientists and mathematicians; social scientists, social workers, religious workers, and lawyers; teachers, librarians, and counselors; health-diagnosing and -treating practitioners; registered nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, therapists, and physician assistants; health technologists and technicians; writers, artists, and entertainers; technologists and technicians, except health; marketing and sales occupations; administrative support occupations, including clerical occupations; service occupations; agricultural and forestry occupations; mechanics and repairers; construction and extractive occupations; production occupations; transportation and material-moving occupations; helpers, handlers, equipment cleaners, and laborers; and military occupations.(5) Prior to the SOC, labor market analysts tended to group occupations into hierarchical categories such as "white collar" and "blue collar." The latter grouping often was disaggregated further into "skilled," "semiskilled," and "unskilled." Authors of the SOC clustering arrangement hoped to dissuade analysts from reliance on these kinds of socioeconomic hierarchies. With only minor changes, this new system of grouping occupations remained in place through the 1988-89 edition of the Handbook.

The 1982-83 Handbook was the first to incorporate data from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey.(6) This edition also contained statements on occupations outside the framework of the projections matrix, such as anthropologist, city manager, college student personnel worker, floral designer, model, and range manager. In most cases, the Bureau relied on outside sources for estimates of employment in these occupations.

Another cut in program funding in fiscal year 1982 necessitated more reductions of occupational coverage in the 1984-85 Handbook. A new criterion was established to govern coverage: only occupations for which OES employment data were available would be covered. This criterion, which still holds today, resulted in a wholesale castoff of occupations.(7) The 1984-85 edition thus had only 185 detailed occupational statements, but coverage, nevertheless, accounted for well over half of all jobs in the economy. In addition, the Bureau presented summary data for 170 occupations for which employment projections were prepared, but detailed occupational information was not. This summary data consisted of a brief description of the occupation, the number of jobs it had in 1982, and a phrase describing prospects for future employment growth or decline. Altogether, these occupations accounted for an additional 20 percent of the Nation's jobs.