The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Retiring baby boomers create explosion in job market

Amy Ragan, a senior in accounting, is not worried about finding a job after she graduates and according to recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be more job openings for graduates in the next few years than there has been in the last decade.

Alan Reynolds, director of economic research at Hudson Institute, said the future economy would suffer not from scarcity of jobs but from scarcity of able workers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected the generation, commonly known as the "baby boomers," will account for 22 million of the 25 million people leaving the workforce between 1998 and 2008. Baby boomers are classified as the more than 75 million people born between the years 1946 to 1964.

But Loutfi Jirari, a senior in zoology and former business major, is going to graduate school because he feels the job possibilities in the zoology field are slim.

"I want to change from zoology and go back to business," Jirari said. "I think, with a business degree, I can get a better career."

The most rapidly expanding jobs are those that require more schooling and vocational skills, Reynolds said. However, some industries will be more affected by baby boomers retiring and therefore have more jobs available.

The bureau estimated that the job market for accounting, Ragan's major, will need 330,000 individuals from 1998 to 2008 to replace the jobs left behind by the baby boomers, but the highest field influenced by the retirees is education.

In fact, Jim Scales, director of career services at SIUC, said he has noticed an overall increase of recruitment at campus-wide career fairs but certain fields like education has seen more.

"It's better than last year in that there will be more job opportunities," Scales said.

"Basically, we're seeing more and more employers inviting students for interviews."

Other fields that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics are more affected by the high retirement rate include nursing, administration, physicians, financial managers, farmers and lawyers.

In addition, average employee replacement needs in the overall job market in the next four years will be 25 percent higher than it was during the past decade, said Arlene Dohm, an economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

However, even with more jobs available, it is still important for students to get a competitive edge because there could be more than 2,000 graduates applying for the same position, Scales said.

"There's nothing wrong with you." Scales said. "Remember you're not the only one applying for that job."

But approximately 1,800 students out of the estimated 6,000 students that graduate every semester at SIUC take advantage of the special training available through career services, Scales said. The department helps students create career specific resumes as well as practice interviewing.

He said the sooner students start looking for a job and participating in pre-employee training, the better because finding a job can take up to nine months. Students should not get discouraged if they get one or more rejections.

"It's not because of the quality of education or because of Halloween, it's because of your competitive edge," Scales said.

 

 

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