Good pay, B.A. not required: an analysis of occupations, pay and educational requirements.

• Author: Warren, Charles
• Position: Statistical Data Included

A common assumption among people is that a four-year degree is the only ticket to career success. In fact, only 22 percent of this nation's workers are in jobs that require a bachelor's degree and three-fourths of the U.S. adult population does not have a bachelor's degree.

The IEDC recently analyzed occupations within Indiana and found that 78 meet the following criteria:

* Pay $20,000 or more per year

* Expect 10-year growth of 10 percent or more

* Do not require a bachelor's degree

* Offer sufficient numbers of jobs within the given occupation class

A unique database was created by the IEDC to conduct this research. That database combines federal and state labor force data on employment, occupations and wages. This database uses a categorization scheme developed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (1). This scheme categorizes occupations into 11 separate levels of education and training. Categories start with short-term on-the-job training and progress through long-term on-the-job training, associate's degree, bachelor's degree, professional or graduate degree and doctoral degree. Specifics on the 78 occupations that met the above four criteria and the seven job clusters or categories are described below.

Focus Occupations

These 78 occupations were called focus occupations and combined employ 633,000 Hoosiers, or 22 percent of the workforce in the state. These focus occupations were combined into seven career clusters or industries:

* Building and Construction

* Business, Management and Finance

* Health Services

* Manufacturing and Processing

* Marketing, Sales and Promotion

* Mechanical Repair and Precision Crafts

* Transportation

The occupations employing the most Hoosiers are helpers, laborers and material movers (people who move things by hand); registered nurses; and truck drivers.

The occupations paying more than $38,000 are dental hygienists, first line construction supervisors, selected business services sales agents, other sales representatives and the group that includes plumbers. pipe fitters and steamfitters.

Indiana occupations expected to grow by more than 50 percent by 2006 are physical and corrective therapy assistants and aides; bill and account collectors; combination machine tool setters and setup operators: and adjustment clerks.

Three key occupations that employ another 133,000 Hoosiers were excluded from this study, despite a good wage and educational match. These were licensed practical nurses, secretaries and assemblers and fabricators. Each of them is expected to grow by less than 10 percent by 2006.

Building and Construction (Table 1)

The construction industry offers some of the best-paid jobs without a degree requirement, particularly within the skilled trades and crafts, such as carpenters, electricians and bricklayers. The Indiana construction industry had approximately 145,000 jobs in 1998 with an annual average wage of $33,380.

Many construction jobs are forecast to grow at rates in the high 20 percent to low 30 percent range over the decade. Jobs in this industry do require long-term training and most workers enter through apprenticeships. The industry is heavily unionized and employment is often affected by seasonal conditions and swings in the economy. These 11 focus occupations (of the entire 78), have combined employment of 61,565.

Business Management and Finance (Table 2)

In the hospitality area, only food service and lodging managers meet the focus occupation criteria. It is the 11th fastest growing business occupation...