Practice Workbook for the Primer about
Labor Market Information, Ver. 2
Simple
Methods for Researching Industries and
Occupations to Help Massachusetts Students Make
Good Career Decisions
Office of College and Career Readiness
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148-4906
Phone 781-338-3000 TTY: N.E.T. Relay 800-439-2370
www.doe.mass.edu
Contents
Introduction.
Practice Workbook for the Primer on Labor Market Information
3
Practice Topic One. What industry sectors will be in demand in the future?
4
Practice Topic Two. What occupations will be in demand in the future?
8
Practice Topic Three. What will various occupations pay?
10
Practice Topic Four. What are the educational requirements for specific jobs?
12
Appendix A: Table of Major Labor Market Databases and Websites
14
Appendix B: Table of the 20 NAICS codes at the Two Digit Level
15
Appendix C: Table of the 23 SOC codes at the Two Digit Level
16
Note-Taking Pages
17
Practice Workbook for the Primer on Labor Market
Information
Introduction. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education (ESE) has developed this short Practice Workbook through its Connecting
Activities initiative to accompany its Primer about Labor Market Information (LMI); both
are tools to help educators and counselors gain a working familiarity with LMI so that
they can support career awareness and exploration activities for students of the
Commonwealth.
Readers are encouraged to review the Primer first before practicing the exercises in this
Workbook. The Primer provides the larger context for LMI research, explaining the
background and sources for relevant LMI data. This Practice Workbook focuses on
sample research tasks to help the reader get started. [Note: Neither are offered as
career development guides for students, there are many other useful tools and websites
for that.]
This Workbook targets four areas of LMI that interest students, and that commonly arise
in career research:




What industry sectors will be in demand in the future?
What occupations will be in demand in the future?
What will various occupations pay?
What are the educational requirements for specific jobs?
Research about these questions will give readers an opportunity to use the websites
referenced in the Primer.
In this Practice Guide, 14 different sample research questions, relating to the four areas
above, are presented and answered. The steps required to answer them are described.
Readers are encouraged to come up with their own variations of these questions.
Readers are also encouraged to browse through those sites in an open-ended way, to
discover for themselves the vast array of data there, analyzed and presented in many
different ways to offer readers access to trends in the labor market.
It is noteworthy that the underlying web sites and sources of data are not static; they are
continually being updated, added to and improved. Once you have practiced with this
guide, you are encouraged to return to the process, to stay familiar with the ways to find
information that you have learned from the Primer and this workbook. Note that,
because the sites and data are updated frequently, they may not display the same
charts and information reflected in this Workbook.
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Page 4
Practice Topic One. Looking into the Future:
Projections about Industry Sectors
As discussed in the LMI Primer, the NAICS system offers a comprehensive classification scheme for
all industries, using a six digit coding system. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) use these
NAICS codes to develop employment projections for the nation and state, respectively. In this
section, we look at their projections about industry sectors. This practice research selects some
sample sectors in order .to explore this aspect of LMI.
A cautionary note: LMI information is useful to students, but data discovered through basic
research should not be relied upon to restrict a student’s career plans. The fact that a sector or
occupation is neither large nor increasing does not mean it is the wrong choice for an individual
student. For example, the manufacturing sectors are declining by some measures in LMI
research, but they are still an energized part of the MA and US economy. Much care must be
taken in interpreting the data, or guiding students about choices. The goal is to arm students
with information, not deprive them of their dreams.
Readers are encouraged to browse all the sites that are listed in the Appendix to learn more about
LMI. There is a fascinating wealth of information available. The sample chart below gives a
compelling look at just one small slice: occupations in MA in the 10 largest manufacturing
subsectors. As educators become familiar with these resources, students can too.
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Question 1: What industries are projected to grow the most in the country by
2024?
Key: This question is about industry sectors (not occupations) at the national level (not
state or local) and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides
you to employment projections within NAICS sectors published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
To determine the answer, go to the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
http://www.bls.gov/emp/. Using the “Subjects” dropdown from the menu, select “Employment
Projections” in the Employment subsection. Select EP Tables, and then review one of the “Most
requested EP Tables, namely “Industries with the fastest growing and most rapidly declining
wage and salary employment.” Here is a screen shot showing an excerpt of the display of
industries by 4 digit NAICS code with annual growth of 2% or more by 2014:
Answer 1: Health care and social assistance is the leading industry for
growth. Notice also the substantial growth, by percent and number, of
several categories of Professional and Business Services, such as
computer systems design and related services, with an increase of 2.1%
annually, and a total increase of 408,900 jobs.
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Question 2: Will there be growth in the Leisure and Hospitality sectors
by 2024 in the United States?
Key: This question is about industry sectors (not occupations) at the national level (not
state or local) and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides
you to employment projections within NAICS sectors published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
To obtain this answer, again go to the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
http://www.bls.gov/emp/. Using the “Subjects” dropdown from the menu, select Employment
Projections in the Employment subsection. Choose Industry Output and Employment from the
left margin. Then select the Data Table referred as 2.1 “Employment by major industry table.”
The resulting chart displays the projections across all major industry sectors. You can also
generate the list in Excel, clicking on the XLSX link provided. The excerpt below is from that
chart, presenting employment by Major Industry Sector for the nonagricultral sectors, shows
percentage change and numbers employed.
Answer 2: Yes, the Leisure and Hospitality sector is projected to grow by
.6% with close to a million (941,200 ) new jobs between 2014 and 2024.
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Question 3: Are there industry sectors in Massachusetts that will experience
significant growth, of more than 25%, by 2022? If so, what are they? And which
will offer the most new jobs?
Key: This question is about industry sectors (not occupations) at the state (not national)
level and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within NAICS sectors published by the Executive Office of Labor
and Workforce Development.
To look at projections about industry sectors in Massachusetts (or its local areas), use the Labor
Market Information page available at the website of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce
Development (EOLWD), at http://www.mass.gov/lwd/economic-data. The Primer discusses
this resource starting at page 42. Click on Projections (under the Labor Market Information
navigation pane at the left side of the web page) to find long term (10 years) and short term (2
years) projections of employment change by industry sector (3-digit NAISC level) or
occupational (major SOC codes), statewide and by WIOA area. Data also includes job counts
and wage levels.
Here is a screen shot of the top projected performers between 2012 and 2022, copied from the
spreadsheet downloaded from the long term projections for industry sectors, which was then
filtered by percent change, from high to low:
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Answer 3: Yes, there are 11 industry sectors (at the 3 digit level) projected
to increase by more than 25% in Massachusetts, shown in the chart above.
Ambulatory Health Care Services, at 25.1%, has the largest number, with a
projection of 41,286 new jobs.
As shown, it is easy to drill down to sub-state units in the state’s tables, whether by Labor
Market Area, Metropolitan Statistical Area, Micropolitan Statistical Area, NECTA (New England
City and Town Area) or WIOA. The state’s workforce regions routinely look at this kind of data
for their own jurisdictions to develop training programs and to help job seekers make choices
about skills to acquire and careers to pursue.
Question 4: What is the projected rate of growth for the Professional, Scientific
and Technical Services sector in the Cape and Island Workforce Region?
Key: This question is about industry sectors (not occupations) at the local (not national)
level and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within NAICS sectors published by the Executive Office of Labor
and Workforce Development.
Answer 4: Projected growth is 24.9%, with 1,111 new jobs.
Note: Generally, industry sectors receive a lot of attention in education and public policy circles.
New training programs are often developed to respond to labor market demand in industry
sectors. High schools and colleges interested in career pathway development also start by
considering the regional and state industry sectors demonstrating strong demand in the future.
CVTE programs are required to be supported by labor demand.
Practice Search: Using the same process, determine which industries in
Massachusetts are projected to suffer the largest decreases, both by percent and
number, by 2022.
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Practice Topic Two. Projections about Occupations
As reflected in the Primer, this involves “SOC” rather than “NAICS.” Students tend to be more
familiar with occupations than industry sectors. However, typically they are only able to identify
a few, and their career exploration efforts may focus just on the occupations they know. One
goal of effective career research is to help students begin to learn about the extraordinary
variety of occupations that exist. In this section, the practice questions will explore readily
available information about occupations.
As discussed in the Primer at Chapter 6, starting at p. 33, there is a wealth of information about
individual occupations across the nation in the resource called O*NET.
https://www.onetonline.org/. Any occupation can be studied there by entering an occupation’s
name (keyword) or SOC code in the browser. For this practice exercise, we will look at several
different occupations, at the national and local level.
Question 5: What are the prospects for civil engineers in the United States in 2022?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the national (not state or
local) level and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within SOC groupings published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For a first step, type in that key word in the browser at the O*NET home page. This will
generate a Summary Report about that occupation. Scroll down near the bottom of the page for
“Wages & Employment Trends” to find the answer.
Answer 5: The prospects for civil engineers are bright. Projected growth
is faster than average (15% to 21%), and 120,100 job openings are
projected between 2012 and 2022. The median annual wage in 2014 was
$82,050.
Note: As mentioned in the Primer, O*NET’s summary reports are great sources of wide range
of related information about occupations, including tools & technology used, knowledge, skills,
abilities, and information about education needed.
O*NET also has a specific table designed to present “Bright Prospects”. Use this link:
https://www.onetonline.org/find/bright?b=2&g=Go. Using the dropdown menu there, select
“numerous job openings” to see a long list of occupations projected to have many openings.
Civil engineer is on this list, along with many other occupations. ..............................................
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Question 6: What major occupational group will show the largest number of new
jobs across the nation by 2024?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the national (not state or
local) level and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within SOC groupings published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This question can be answered using the National Employment Matrix. Go to the Employment
Projection page of the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site: http://www.bls.gov/emp/ . Click on
EP Topics • Occupational Employment on the left navigational pane. At the subject heading
Data Tables, click on the XLS link at the text that reads All Occupational Tables In A Single
File (XLS, 1.4 MB). This will download a single Excel spreadsheet that includes all analytical
tables relating to occupations, including tables that show employment projections by major and
detailed occupational group, fastest growing and declining occupations, the industry-occupation
matrix by both industry and occupation, and educational requirements by detailed occupation.
Use the “Employment by major occupational group” to find your answer.
Answer 6: “Health care practitioners and technical occupations” (SOC 290000) is the largest occupational group, and has a projected increase of
1,348,100 new jobs. [The second largest, with 974,200 new jobs, is
“Healthcare support occupations.”]
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Question 7: What will be the demand for Physical Therapists in 2022 in the
Berkshire WIB region?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the local (not national or
state) level and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within SOC groupings published by the Executive Office of Labor and
Workforce Development.
To look at projections about occupations in Massachusetts or its local areas, use the Labor
Market Information page available at the website of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce
Development (EOLWD), at http://www.mass.gov/lwd/economic-data. The Primer discusses
this resource starting at page 42. Click on Projections (under the Labor Market Information
navigation pane at the left side of the web page) to find long term (10 years) and short term (2
years) projections of employment change by industry sector (3-digit NAISC level) or
occupational (major SOC codes), statewide and by WIA area. Data also includes job counts
and wage levels at a detailed level. The SOC code for Physical Therapists is 29-1123.
Answer 7: The demand for Physical Therapists in the Berkshire region is
projected to increase by 24.56%, from 114 physical therapists in 2012 to
142 in 2022.
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Question 8: What is the projected rate of growth for Computer Systems Analysts
(SOC 151121) across Massachusetts by 2022?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the state (not national) level
and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within SOC groupings published by the Executive Office of Labor and
Workforce Development.
Answer 8: 23.88%, and 4,017 new jobs (from 16,820 in 2012 to 20,837 in 2022).
Note: Computer science is an area of emphasis in the knowledge-based economy and
specificially STEM focus in the state of MA. Many policy makers are proposing that students
be offered more instruction in K-12 in this area to prepare them for the increasing opportunities
in computer science.
Practice Search: Select another occupation from the same list, and find out
about its prospects. Or change the dropdown selection to “Rapid Growth” or
“New and Emerging” to look at occupations with bright outlooks for those
reasons.
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Practice Topic Three. Focus on Pay Rates: What will “X” job
pay?
Helping students determine whether sectors and occupations they are interested in will pay a
family sustaining wage is an important part of LMI research. The barista job (SOC code 353022) so many young adults pursue may be a necessary start into the working world, but its
2014 average hourly wage was $9.01 per hour. For some perspective, consider that in MA, a
living hourly wage for a single adult (in 2016), is calculated at $12.60.
Question 9: In 2014, what was the average wage for web developers in the US?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the national (not state or
local) level. The Primer guides you to employment information within SOC groupings
published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Use the Summary report from O*NET, using SOC code 15-1134, to answer.
Answer 9: The median hourly pay rate for web developers was $30.52 per
hour, and the average annual salary was $63,490.
Question 10: Reviewing the BLS Table for Fastest Growing Occupations,
http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm, then Table 1.3, what is the average
annual wage for the occupation with the greatest job growth?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the national (not state or
local) level and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within SOC groupings published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Answer 10: The occupation with the biggest job growth is personal care
aides, with 458,100 new jobs. However, the average annual wage for this job
is only $20,440.
This outcome underscores a point of emphasis: The fact that there may be a lot of openings for
a particular occupation should not alone be the basis for pursuing it.
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Question 11: What do Financial Managers make in Massachusetts?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the state (not national) level
and requires state wage data. The Primer guides you to wage information published by the
Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
For this state search, start again at http://www.mass.gov/lwd/economic-data/ Then click on
Occupations (under the Labor Market Information navigation pane at the left side of the web
page) to find statewide and regional data on occupations. The Occupational Market Information
page collects occupational employment and wages for all non-farm industries statewide, for
sixteen Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Areas (WIOAs), and for seven NECTAs. Click
the link to Access All Industry Occupational Employment and Wages for May, 2014. Use the
drop-down choices to (a) select a unit for your search – either statewide or by NECTA region, or
WIA area; (b) choose a specific sub-state area to review; and (c) choose an occupation at either
the 2-digit or 6-digit SOC level.
Answer 11: Financial managers (SOC 11-3031) in Massachusetts made an
average annual salary of $128,360 in 2014.
Practice Search: Using the SOC system, select several occupations to study, and
follow the steps above to determine their pay rates.
Note that the question of pay rates goes hand in hand with issues relating to the
cost of living. Visit the MassCIS site, at https://masscis.intocareers.org, to use
the site’s “Reality Check” activity, which generates a comparison between the
cost of a student’s desired life style and the annual income from his or her
chosen occupation. The outcome often comes as a rude shock. By the way,
adults like to use this for themselves.
Note: You don’t have to have an account, you can log in as a Massachusetts
resident.
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Question 12: What is the current average annual rate of pay for a physical
therapist in Pittsfield, MA?
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the local (not national or
state) level and requires local wage data. The Primer guides you to wage information
published by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Use the same process as followed in Question 11.
Here is a screen shot of the table displaying the answer:
Answer 12: $82,130.
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Practice Topic Four: Finding out the Education
Requirements for Targeted Jobs
Counselors are often asked by students about the amount of education needed for
industry sectors and/or specific jobs. This information is available from many sources.
Question 13. How much education is needed to become a physical therapist?
Use O*NET to answer this one. The SOC code for physical therapists is 29-1123. The starting
point for O*NET is: https://www.onetonline.org/.
Key: This question is about occupations (not industry sectors) at the national (not state or
local) level and requires data on future projections of employment. The Primer guides you to
employment projections within the SOC groupings published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
Answer 13 - According to the Summary report in O*NET, 8% of physical
therapists have a Bachelor’s degree, 39% have a Master’s degree and 37%
have a doctoral degree. The Summary also shows 20 different certifications
available for subspecialties in this occupation.
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Question 14. What is the educational level for STEM occupations in Massachusetts
that will be in demand 5 to 10 years from now?
To research this, it is helpful to be familiar with some of the leading tables presented by
the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce for its LMI Projections. Its menu of choices
for Projections includes not only short and long term projections for occupations and
industries. It also has a specific presentation about STEM Long Term Occupation
Projections. http://lmi2.detma.org/Lmi/projections.asp#Long-Term Occupational
Projections. This menu option generates a long list of STEM occupations, in numerical
order by SOC code, and displays for each the number of positions and projected
changes by 2022, the 2014 mean annual wage, and the Education level required.
When downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet, and filtered by “Employment 2024,”
largest to smallest, the reader can see the occupations with the greatest number of
positions, and the associated Education Level. Here is a screen shot of the top
occupations in MA by that process:
Answer 14: Most of the STEM occupations that will be in high demand in
2022, measured by the number of positions in the MA labor market, require
at least a bachelor’s degree.
Practice Search: The task of determining education levels for targeted jobs can
be pursued by students through the websites commonly used by schools for
individual planning about college and career, such as Your Plan for the Future
and MasCIS.
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Appendix A: Table of Major Labor Market Databases and Websites
The following table lists the major websites and databases that were cited in this publication.
Readers may want to copy these links into your computer’s web browser and bookmark them
for easy access. Links were confirmed and active as of August 1, 2015.
Site
Content
URL
U.S. Census Bureau
Decennial population data
http://www.census.gov/
topics/population.html.
UMass—Donahue
Institute; Population
Estimates Program
Age cohort data for
Massachusetts
http://pep.donahue-institute.org/
Federal Reserve Bank of
St. Louis
Data on working age
population
https://research.stlouisfed.org/
fred2/series/LFWA64TTUSM647S.
NAICS System
Industry sector
classifications and codes
http://www.census.gov/
eos/www/naics
Standard Occupational
Classification System
Occupational classifications
and codes
http://www.bls.gov/soc/
National Employment
Matrix
Industry/Occupation
crosswalks
http://data.bls.gov/oep/
nioem/empiohm.jsp
O*NET
U.S. occupational network
https://www.onetonline.org/
O*NET Academy
Tools and tutorials for using
O*NET database
http://www.onetacademy.org
MassCIS
Massachusetts Career
Information System
https://masscis.intocareers.org/
materials/portal/home.html
Massachusetts Labor
Market Data
Statewide and substate
regional labor market
information
http://www.mass.gov/lwd/
economic-data
Employer Locator
Massachusetts employers
by industry and location
http://lmi2.detma.org/lmi/
employers.asp
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Appendix B: The 20 NAICS Codes at the Highest (Two Digit) level
Sector
Description
11
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
21
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction
22
Utilities
23
Construction
31-33
42
Manufacturing
Wholesale Trade
44-45
Retail Trade
48-49
Transportation and Warehousing
51
Information
52
Finance and Insurance
53
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
54
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
55
Management of Companies and Enterprises
56
Administrative and Waste Management Services
61
Educational Services
62
Health Care and Social Assistance
71
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
72
Accommodation and Food Services
81
Other Services (except Public Administration)
92
Public Administration
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Appendix C. The 23 SOC Codes at the Highest (Two Digit) level
SOC Code
Description
11
Management
13
Business and Financial Operations
15
Computer and Mathematical
17
Architecture and Engineering
19
Life, Physical, and Social Science
21
Community and Social Services
23
Legal
25
Education, Training, and Library
27
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media
29
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
31
Healthcare Support
33
Protective Service
35
Food Preparation and Serving Related
37
Building & Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance
39
Personal Care and Service
41
Sales and Related
43
Office and Administrative Support
45
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
47
Construction and Extraction
49
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
51
Production
53
Transportation and Material Moving
55
Military Specific
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Notes from LMI Research
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Notes from LMI Research
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Notes from LMI Research
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Acknowledgement
This publication was prepared by the
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education (ESE) with the support of staff at Commonwealth
Corporation. It is designed as a companion to the “Primer about
Labor Market Information” prepared by ESE.
© 2016 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Permission is hereby granted to copy any or all parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes.
Please credit the “Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.”