what is job outlook

Job outlook refers to the projected change in the number of people employed in a certain occupation over a selected period of time, usually two, five, or ten years. It is a common metric used to express how many people are employed in a certain position or occupation for a period of time. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), which includes information about the nature of work, working conditions, training and education, earnings, and job outlook for hundreds of different occupations in the United States. The BLS uses job outlook information to display the predicted employment growth rate for a particular profession. According to the BLS, the average job outlook is about 5 to 8 percent, which means that the employment for a particular profession is predicted to increase at an average growth rate compared to all occupations. A good job outlook is considered one that is higher than the average outlook for all occupations. An expected growth rate of 9 to 13 percent is considered a good job outlook because it indicates an increase in job openings but at a slightly slower growth rate. A projected growth rate of 14 percent or more means that a particular occupation is growing at a pretty good rate.