Recession to bring job, profession changes

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- As unemployed Americans struggle to find work, globalization and automation may export or eliminate not only jobs, but entire occupations, analysts say.

Harry Holzer, a Georgetown University government professor, said these fears are somewhat exaggerated, yet understandable.

"The U.S. economy churns a lot, more than in most countries," he said. "A lot of jobs are created and destroyed, and it creates a lot of anxiety. In a recession, the insecurity is even worse."

The U.S. Labor Department predicts that during the next decade there will be fewer jobs in almost a quarter of the 750 occupations it tracks, even as the total number of jobs increases by 10 percent, USA Today reported Thursday.

During the past two years, the average time a worker has been unemployed has doubled to 34 weeks, and the government has classified 1.3 million people as "discouraged workers" -- not looking for jobs because they believe there are none.

In the past year, that number tripled to almost 4 million.

Most experts agree, however, that the economy will eventually recover.

Jobs will be created and the jobless rate will fall, albeit slowly, they say.

"The way work is done and what needs to be done doesn't change very fast, even now," said Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. "The jobs we have when the economy recovers will look much like the ones that were lost. People think work is changing faster than it is."