The job outlook - June 2006

By Edward M. Mazze, professor of business administration at the University of Rhode Island, and dean of the business school.

This month thousands of high school and college graduates will be entering the job market for the first time. What can they anticipate? In May, I presented the Rhode Island economic forecast at the New England Economic Partnership conference. The Rhode Island economy will be rocky in 2006.Growth in employment in 2005 was weak with the state adding fewer than 3,200 jobs. The forecast for 2006 predicts that Rhode Island will gain 6,800 new jobs. This can change dramatically if the state attracts or loses a major business in the second half of 2006. From 2002 through 2006, the state will have gained about 19,000 new jobs.

The economic forecast show the effects of the movement of businesses to other regions of the country, high energy costs, noncompetitive tax rates, unaffordable housing and a rising state budget deficit. In some cases, full-time jobs are not being created because of the increasing costs of fringe benefits. Many of these factors are also affecting the job outlook in the other New England states. Much of the economic growth in the United States is taking place in the southern and mid-western states.

The industrial sectors critical to employment growth in Rhode Island in the next three years include financial services, biotechnology, the marine trades and the defense industry including homeland security. These sectors create higher paying jobs.

Our economy continues to move away from manufacturing. Economic growth will revolve around technologies such as computing and communications and the sciences such as physics, biology and chemistry which require a highly educated work force.

Today, the greatest growth in employment in Rhode Island is in the following industrial sectors: leisure and hospitality, educational and health services, professional and business services and construction. Construction employment has reached an all time high of 23,000 workers according to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.

Job hunting will be more difficult in Rhode Island in the next six months. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate is above the national average. The job seeker will have to learn to sell his or her strengths – not something learned in school. The resume has to tell a future employer not only what you have done but what you can do for their organization. Good luck as you enter the job market.