Occupations meeting "critical" vacancy criteria for the 2008-Q2 Massachusetts Job Vacancy Survey
Commonwealth Corporation has developed a list of critical vacancies based on the 2nd Quarter, 2008 job vacancy survey (JVS) conducted by the Massachusetts' Department of Workforce Development's Division of Career Services (DCS).
The purpose is to identify occupations for which there is critical and persistent demand, to help inform the state's workforce development system.
Top Ten Critical Occupations, 2nd Quarter, 2008
Highest Vacancies Rate
Highest Number of Vacancies
Critical Vacancies for the 2nd Quarter, 2008
To view the complete PDF document of the Critical Vacancies for the 2nd Quarter, 2008, please click here.
| Job Families |
No. of Critical
Vacancies |
Employment in Critical Occupations |
| |
(2008, Q2) |
2007 May |
| Office & Administrative Support |
5,271 |
302,490 |
| Management |
4,869 |
136,270 |
| Healthcare practitioner & technical |
4,734 |
116,730 |
| Computer & Mathematical |
2,795 |
98,230 |
| Education, training, and library |
2,302 |
93,180 |
| Healthcare Support |
2,065 |
54,690 |
| Business and Financial Operations |
1,647 |
62,480 |
| Buildings and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance |
1,567 |
76,240 |
| Sales & Related |
1,326 |
61,080 |
| Community and Social Services |
1,126 |
22,160 |
| Food Preparation & Serving |
1,081 |
35,690 |
| Transportation & Material Moving |
1,051 |
88,790 |
| Life, Physical, & Social Science |
762 |
17,340 |
| Architecture & Engineering |
713 |
15,400 |
| Installation, Maintenance & Repair |
653 |
37,050 |
| Personal Care and Service |
572 |
9,510 |
| Construction and Extraction |
112 |
20,780 |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media |
78 |
1,450 |
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Critical Occupations in Massachusetts
2nd Quarter 2008
In the 2nd quarter of 2008, there were 32,724 critical vacancies, 44% of the 74,971 total vacancies in Massachusetts. The number of critical vacancies declined from 45,035 critical vacancies 4th quarter of 2007 as well as from the 33,405 in 2nd quarter of 2007 when they constituted about 49% of the total vacancies in each time period.
The number of critical occupations has seen similar declines. In the 2nd quarter of 2008, there were 70 critical occupations, lower than the 92 in the 4th quarter of 2007 and the 86 in the 2nd quarter of that same year.
As part of a broader effort to understand and explain the "Skills Gap" in Massachusetts, Commonwealth Corporation uses the twice-a-year Job Vacancy Survey (JVS) to help workforce development practitioners and policy makers gain a better understanding of the specific occupations that are in demand. Commonwealth Corporation identifies critical occupations that have a large number of vacancies, or a vacancy rate of at least 5% and have an annual median wage of at least $25,000. In addition, persistent vacancies are those that are considered critical for three consecutive surveys.
Where are the critical occupations and vacancies?
Seventy (70) occupations meet the criteria for critical vacancies and account for 32,724 or 44% of all vacancies in Massachusetts in the second quarter, 2008. 5,271 of these vacancies are in the Office and Administrative Support occupational category, down from 5,422 in the same quarter in the previous year. Healthcare technical and practitioner occupational category has 4,734 critical vacancies down from 6,476 in the previous year.
Registered Nurses (3,251) and Nurses aides and Assistants (1,573) continue to be the critical occupations with the highest number of vacancies. New additions to the top ten critical vacancies with the highest number of vacancies from the previous year are landscaping workers, tellers, preschool teachers, and secondary school teachers. Eight of the top ten critical vacancies typically require training or educational credentials below a bachelor's degree.
The occupations with the highest vacancy rates are Substance Abuse Counselors (16.3%) and Public Relations Managers (12.4%). Seven of the critical vacancies with the highest rates require at least a bachelor's degree, including many types of managers, such as advertising (9.4%), marketing (8.8%), medical (8.1%), and community service managers (7.3%).
The Office and Administrative Support occupational category has the largest number of critical vacancies (7,945), but the Management Occupational category has the most critical occupations (13). The smallest occupational category was Arts, Design, Entertainment, and Sports Media and Carpenters with 112 and 78 vacancies, respectively, each in one occupation, Audio and Video Equipment Technicians and Carpenters.
Twelve (12) of the 70 critical occupations with 4,270 (13%) of the 45,035 critical vacancies are in the three occupational categories that make up STEM occupations (computer and mathematical, life, physical, and social science, and architecture and engineering). STEM occupations constitute one of the top 10 occupations with the highest vacancy rates (Mechanical Engineering Technicians).
What are the educational requirements of the critical occupations?
Thirty-five of 70 (50%) of critical occupations require at least a Bachelor's degree, but 19 of 70 (27%) require only on the job training of up to a year, but not necessarily a post-secondary credential.
The number of critical occupations requiring a Master's degree or higher doubled from the 2nd Quarter 2007, from 2 to 4, but the number requiring a Bachelor's degree declined by 5 and the number requiring on the job training of up to a year or experience declined by 10.
Persistent Occupations
Forty-six (46) occupations met the criteria for persistent occupations, i.e., they have been critical for three job vacancy surveys, which indicates they are not seasonal in nature, and represent shortage that are not just a one-time occurrence. These occupations represent 26,774 vacancies, 82% of the total number of critical vacancies. The largest number of persistent occupations is, like critical occupations, in the Office and Administrative Support and Healthcare Practitioner and Technical occupational categories. A number of STEM occupations are also included among these: five computer related occupations, two engineering occupations and two from Life, Physical and Social Sciences.
Conclusion
Critical occupations reflect a broad range of educational requirements and skills. They represent 18 of the 22 major occupational categories and while the largest proportion of critical occupations requires at least a Bachelor's degree, nearly one-third do not require any post-secondary credential.
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