plus 1, Jobs Outlook: Careers Headed For The Trash Pile - Forbes (blog)

Jobs Outlook: Careers Headed For The Trash Pile - Forbes (blog)

Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:59 AM PST

Economists believe that many of the jobs lost in the "great recession" will be coming back. Construction and high finance positions that were temporarily slashed, for example, are expected to steadily return. Regardless of the economic dip, however, several career paths have been declining for years due to larger structural changes in the economy. These dying occupations are headed for the trash pile.

In Pictures: 10 Top Dead Or Dying Career Paths

"The kinds of jobs that are disappearing are the jobs that pay really well [for] relatively unskilled workers," says Harry Holzer, Ph.D., Georgetown University economist and co-author of Where Are All The Good Jobs Going. He lists manufacturing jobs as a leading example, saying that well-paid assembly jobs that require modest training and only a high school diploma or less are a thing of the past.

So where did all the good jobs go? "The combination of technological advancement and off-shoring has shrunk these jobs," says Holzer.

Technology has certainly put postal service mail sorters on the chopping block. After losing almost 57,000 jobs between 2004 and 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects a further 30% decline in this occupation by 2018.

According to jobs researcher and author of 2011 Career Plan, Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., this occupation has seen some erosion from increased communication via phone, e-mail and cloud computing. Yet the chief reason for the decline, Shatkin says, is that mail sorting has become mostly automated, and robots are replacing people.

Machines are also taking over one of the largest job categories: office and administrative support workers. About 300,000 administrative jobs disappeared in the five years before 2009, and the BLS projects continued contraction throughout the next decade. File clerk positions, for example, are expected to decline 23%.

"Word processing, voicemail and the Internet make it easier for skilled professionals to do [clerical work] themselves," says Holzer. "Employers are under pressure. If they can do this work more efficiently, they will."

Advanced technology has wiped out many other jobs that will soon conjure only nostalgia. It seems that Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman has become a reality. With the rise of television and Internet marketing, door-to-door sales jobs contracted by 40% in the last five years for which data is available, and telemarketer positions declined by 25%.

In Pictures: 10 Top Dead Or Dying Career Paths

Moreover, the global marketplace has displaced once steady jobs like seamstresses and textile workers. Sewing machine operator jobs fell by 77,000 in five years and the BLS expects another 72,000 jobs lost by 2018—a 34% drop. Meanwhile, occupations like hand sewing, fabric mending and textile knitting have also seen sharp declines in recent years.

"Sewing is all overseas now," says Shatkin. "[The U.S.] just can't compete with low-wage countries."

In some cases, market and technology changes simply speed up an occupation's decline once it goes out of fashion, Shatkin says. Stage performers—a category that includes magicians, jugglers, clowns and dancers—suffered a steep five-year decline of 61%. Increased interest in movies and home entertainment technologies, including video games, he says, has decreased the demand for live performances.

Among the occupations that saw the steepest declines (culled from BLS data provided by Moody's Analytics), men and women seemed equally burdened. While mail sorters and carpenters are male-dominated, for example, office workers and sewing machine operators are female-dominated occupations. Nevertheless, experts agree that women have the advantage in the new marketplace.

"On average, there has been a shift away from traditionally male-dominated sectors like manufacturing to the service sector," says Holzer, "and women have made more progress." He notes that women now receive almost 60% of bachelors and masters degrees and dominate the health-care sector, which is one of the fastest growing categories.

Ultimately, for those looking for job stability, "the lesson is to do something that involves human contact," says Shatkin. He advises that workers seek jobs that are in demand and have to be completed by a person, rather than a machine.

In Pictures: 10 Top Dead Or Dying Career Paths

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Before they were stars: The early jobs of today's biggest celebrities - CNN

Posted: 19 Jan 2011 06:13 AM PST

Megan Fox was forced to wear a banana costume at her first job working at a smoothie shop.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Lady Gaga got her start bussing tables at a diner in Manhattan
Comedian Aziz Ansari worked as a dishwasher at a Japanese hibachi restaurant
Amanda Seyfried told Jay Leno that her first job was working as a waitress in a nursing home

(CareerBuilder.com) -- In interviews, celebrities often talk about how "normal" they are, and how their fame and success still hasn't really hit them. All this talk of normalcy can seem kind of hard to believe considering that it's coming from a gorgeous, talented, wealthy, loved-the-world-over person who makes regular appearances on our TV screen; that is until we take a look at some of their first jobs.

Whether it was working retail, waiting tables or washing dishes, the following celebrities had first jobs that make us believe they're serious when they say "I can't believe I made it."

1. Lady Gaga

Now: At age 24, Lady Gaga is one of the most popular recording artists in the world, having sold more than 15 million albums as of October 2010.

Then: In high school, when the Lady was still known as Stefani Germanotta, the aspiring pop-icon bussed tables at a diner near her childhood home on Manhattan's Upper West Side. According to New York Magazine, she used her earnings to buy a Gucci bag.

2. Chelsea Handler

Now: Handler hosts the popular comedy/talk show "Chelsea Lately" on the E! Network, has written three New York Times bestsellers and regularly sells out theaters during her comedy tours.

Then: According to her book "My Horizontal Life," Handler's first job was as a waitress at a Morton's steakhouse in Los Angeles.

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3. Aziz Ansari

Now: Ansari stars on NBC's "Parks and Recreation" alongside Amy Poehler. He also hosted the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and was named one of Forbes' "17 Stars to Watch" in 2010.

Then: Ansari told BlackBook Magazine that his first job was as "a dishwasher at one of those Japanese places that cook on your table. Not too fun."

4. Megan Fox

Now: The "Transformers" beauty regularly appears on every list of hot people in America and recently married former "90210" star Brian Austen Green.

Then: Fox, who is known for her good looks, was actually forced to wear a banana costume when she worked in a smoothie shop as a teen, a secret she first revealed during an interview with Nylon Magazine. Something tells us she would have garnered more customers without a costume covering up her good looks.

5. Nick Cannon

Now: Cannon is the host of NBC's "America's Got Talent" and is expecting his first child with wife Mariah Carey in the spring.

Then: "My mother made me get a job at like, Wienerschnitzel," Cannon told MTV's documentary-style TV show "When I was 17." Cannon reportedly worked at the drive-thru, but was fired after spending too much time telling jokes to customers over the microphone.

6. Amanda Seyfried

Now: Seyfried's career has exploded in recent years. Since 2008, her film credits have included roles in "Mama Mia," "Dear John," "Letters to Juliet" and "Jennifer's Body." She also has a regular role on HBO's "Big Love," and starred alongside Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams in 2004's "Mean Girls."

Then: Seyfried told Jay Leno that her first job was working as a waitress in a nursing home.

CareerBuilder.com: Best bets for jobs in 2011

7. Joel McHale

Now: McHale is the host of the E! Network's "The Soup," and he stars as community college student Jeff Winger on NBC's "Community."

Then: McHale told the Los Angeles Times that he took on a variety of odd jobs, including work as a caddie and a stint at a wine shop, before his television career took off.

8. Michael Kors

Now: Kors not only has a variety of popular clothing and home collections, but he is also a judge on hit-TV show "Project Runway."

Then: Kors had an early interest in fashion. According to his website, at age 19 he got a job as a salesperson working at Lothar's, then one of the premier boutiques in Manhattan.

9. Joel and Benji Madden

Now: The identical twins recently released their fifth album with band Good Charlotte. Joel has two children with tabloid regular Nicole Richie.

Then: According to the Washington Post, the brothers worked a variety of minimum-wage jobs, including stints at a pizza parlor and time spent shampooing hair at a Maryland salon.

10. Russell Simmons

Now: He's the powerhouse behind Def Jam Records, and also owns Phat Farm clothing line.

Then: In his autobiography, Simmons talks about the only 9-to-5 job he's ever held. A stint at an Orange Julius in Manhattan's Greenwich Village during his senior year of high school. Simmons has said that he barely lasted two months at the job though, before he was fired.

11. America Ferrera

Now: Ferrera wrapped the fourth and final season of her popular TV show "Ugly Betty" in April 2010. She also recently starred in "The Dry Land," a film that was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Then: According to her bio on AMCTV.com, Ferrera started waitressing after high school, in order to pay for head shots and the expenses of her budding acting career

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12. Tom Colicchio

Now: Renowned chef Colicchio owns the popular chain of Craft restaurants and is a judge and producer on Bravo's "Top Chef."

Then: Colicchio has said he's been involved with cooking in some form since he was a child, but he got his official start at age 13, when he got a job as a snack-bar cook, according to ABC News.