Interesting Predictions for the '06 Job Market

This article on Investor Business Daily's site discusses what's hot and what's not in the 2006 job market. Here are some excerpts of particular importance...you can also read the full article here.

• Moody's Economy.com projects that restaurants, industrial services (including car-, uniform- and equipment-rental companies and temp agencies, among other things) and medical services (including hospitals, nursing homes and doctors' offices) will add the most new jobs in 2006, adding about 341,000, 336,400, and 315,800 jobs, respectively.
• But other industries with much smaller payrolls will show steeper growth on a percentage basis, including Internet, finance, and computer software-and-services companies, according to Moody's Economy.com.
• Finance companies will grow 5.6%, though that growth is not likely to be in the mortgage lending arena, Koropeckyj said, while computer software and services will increase payrolls 5.3%. Others note the "office economy" is also on a steady rise. "I've been pretty happy to see the pace of job growth in professional services," Bernstein said. Professional services include legal services, accounting, management and consulting, and administrative services.
• Not surprisingly, the health-care sector will see more of the same job growth. "Health care [is] going to continue to boom," Bernstein said. "Florida, Georgia, some of the Southwestern states have very strong health-services component, so you'll probably see continued growth there."
• The outlook for the construction industry is somewhat murky. With the easing of the residential housing market, there will be declines. Economy.com projects a 3.7% drop in new jobs in the home-building sector.
• Economy.com's outlook for 2006 shows the biggest percentage gains in Nevada, with a 3.6% increase in payroll jobs, Arizona with 3.5%, and Florida at 3.4%. That compares to projected declines in payroll jobs in Louisiana (-1%), Delaware (-0.3%) and Michigan (-0.3%).
• Other big gainers include Washington, expected to increase payroll jobs by 2.6%, and Utah, with a 2.8% projected gain, according to Moody's Economy.com.
• "The best advice you can give anyone is if you don't have a college degree, go get one, because that demand isn't going to go away. If you have a college degree you're part of the productivity improvement generation. That's what everybody wants to do so we can be globally competitive," Smith said.
• The unemployment rate for those with a bachelor's degree, in January, was 2.1%, vs. 4.4% for those with a high-school diploma, and 7% for those without a high school diploma, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.