2012 Job Outlook Improving

The last few years have been challenging in the job market, to say the least. An abundance of workers and a lack of jobs have led to soaring unemployment rates and hundreds of applicants for each posted job opening. Yet, things may be beginning to change.

Times Have Been Rough

In a study published by the Baltimore Sun and performed by researchers at Boston’s Northeastern University, 38 percent of young graduates reported being “mal-employed,” or working jobs that did not require the degree they spend so much time and money earning. Many recent college grads have been forced to take $8 an hour jobs simply to pay the rent, if they can even find those jobs. Unemployment has continued to push all time highs, and this leads to an influx of job seekers in the market.

An Upward Swing Is Beginning

While things have been tough, there are changes in the works. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, job postings in 2012 have been triple the numbers in 2010. Also, the median starting salary for new workers has increased 4.5 five percent from 2011 to 2012. This means that improvement is starting.

New graduates are not the only ones who see things improving. Kiplinger estimates that 1.8 million new jobs will hit the market in 2012. While this is barely enough to keep up with the growth of the working population, it is still growth. Kiplinger also expects a moderate pace of job creation in the second half of 2012 to make up for the slow rate in the beginning of the year. The key to taking advantage of these new trends is finding jobs in the markets that are starting to improve.

Where to Expect Employment Gains

The business and professional services category is one of the fastest growing areas this year. If you have skills in sales, accounting, engineering and legal services, you will find that businesses need you. Technology is continuing to grow as the mobile platforms take off and require new developments.

Construction is expected to grow again as the real estate crisis starts to abate. Health care, which seams to always grow, will expand as Obamacare throws more people into the health care system. However, government job cutbacks are going to offset some of these private employer gains, which will mean that unemployment rates stay fairly stable in spite of these potential areas of growth.

So what does this mean for you? Now is the time to look into careers in construction, healthcare, business and technology. If you can get your foot in the door in one of these growing careers, you should be in good shape in the future.