UBT: Forecasting jobs of the future

While Career Services' Dan Ryan doesn't have a crystal ball to predict job growth in specific fields, he does follow closely the trends and advances across marketplaces. "Anything involving the human genome is obviously promising," he says. "There are daily advances in computer sciences and electronics that change the way we work-wireless technology is an area that will be burgeoning. As boomers age, health care and long-term care needs will grow as well. Technology will drive much future growth and will impact virtually all sectors of society.

"There are also demand areas that lie on the not-too-distant horizon, but are not here yet," Ryan reports. "Teaching is a good example. Reports are that about 50 percent of the people who were teaching in 2000 will be retiring by 2010. So this is a field where there is anticipated growth. The same is true for many scientific and technical fields."

"In addition to the significant number of teacher retirements that will take place over the next five to seven years, there are certain high-demand content areas in which there are teacher shortages," explains Julius Gregg Adams, director of teacher education in UB's Graduate School of Education. "It is anticipated that this scarcity will continue in the future. Examples include, but are not limited to, adolescent (secondary) certification in mathematics, chemistry and physics, as well as exceptional education and literacy. Additionally, certain regions within New York State and nationally are experiencing a lack of appropriately certified teachers within these, and other, areas.

"We at the Graduate School of Education recognize these trends and will continue to prepare highly qualified teachers able to meet the challenges of an ever-changing workforce," Adams concludes.