ACRN - America's Career Resource Network Image Skip all navigation links. | Home | About | Contact | Site Map | Glossary | Links |  
  
Link to ACRN home Page
Link to Education Challenge Page Link to Economic Challenge Page Link to Career Development Page
link to c d m t home page Use The Tool State and Federal Tools User Guides References Acknowledgements CDMT Home
Use the Tool Heading
Orientation

engaging

understanding
   Overview
Knowing Yourself
1 Interests
2 Coding interests

3

4

Abilities

Needs and wants

Knowing What Employers Expect
Knowing The Options
1 Defining work terms

2

How the world of work is organized

3

How educational programs are organized

What's Next?


Exploring

Evaluating

acting

reflecting


CDMT — USE THE TOOL
Understanding
understanding myself and my options

Knowing the options
2. How the world of work is organized

Students will learn in this section:

  • How the world of work is organized, and
  • How occupations are distributed.
The world of work is organized into job, occupation, and industry. You have already been provided definitions of jobs and occupations and have observed how they relate.

Industries represent large groups of companies, businesses, and establishments that have similar processes and produce a particular set of goods and/or services that are made available to consumers.

There are 14 "industrial sectors" that represent major industry areas:
  • Retail and Wholesale Trade
  • Professional and Business Services
  • Healthcare and Social Assistance
  • Manufacturing
  • Educational Services
  • Leisure and Hospitality
  • Financial Activities
  • State and Local Governments (except schools and hospitals)
  • Construction
  • Other Services
  • Transportation and Utilities
  • Information
  • Federal Government
  • Natural Resources and Mining
picture of people using computers in a computer lab These "industrial sectors" may contain workers of any occupation, although typically most occupations are in only three or four industrial sectors. For example, almost every industrial sector includes employees working in specialized information, transportation, finance, education, and business occupations.

 

It is important to understand industrial sectors when pursuing a job. A job seeker needs to understand not only where to look for a job, but whether the employing industry is growing, stable, or declining.

This information is available in several resources, look under State and National Tools. Look at the OOQ and OOH and detailed information in the Monthly Labor Review.

Your state has many resources on occupational and industrial information as well.

You may find this information in resources listed under State and National Tools. Good sources are the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) or the Occupational Outlook Quarterly (OOQ), usually the November issue. Finally, you may wish to consult the "Monthly Labor Review." All may be found in your local library or on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov.

If you would like to find out in which industries an occupation is concentrated:
  • Visit the BLS Web site address noted above,
  • Click on "employment projections" when that screen comes up,
  • Click on "detailed employment projections,"
  • Select "National Employment Matrix,"
  • Go to "occupational search,"
  • Select "2014 projected employment,"
  • Hit "continue,"
  • Select an occupation from the list,
  • Click on "all industries on the list," and hit "search."
  • The table that comes up will indicate the primary industries in which the occupation is employed.




Go to the next step



You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read PDF files.  You can download the reader for free from Adobe's Web site