With a degree in nursing, Joliet's Jennifer Clements
didn't have to look far for a job. After receiving her bachelor of science
degree in nursing from the University of St. Francis College of Nursing and
Allied Health in Joliet in 2004, the then 20-year-old Clements applied for
positions at eight hospitals -- and received job offers from all eight. By the
following year, she was earning an annual income of more than
$60,000.
Today, at 23, Clements is a part-time intensive care nurse at
Naperville's Edward Hospital, and a full-time master's degree student at St.
Francis. Earning a master's degree will enable her to become an advanced
practice nurse, a position employers ranging from CVS and Walgreen to
physicians' offices and state-funded nurse-managed clinics eagerly seek to fill.
"It makes you all the more marketable," she said.
Just how marketable is
indicated by the perks some employers offer graduates, including tuition
forgiveness and sign-on bonuses of up to $10,000, Clements said.
It's no
surprise Clements and other nurses will be in great demand statewide in the
coming year. Nursing is expected to be Illinois' hottest private sector job
field, according to The State of Working Illinois report, compiled by the
Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and two Northern Illinois
University research groups, the Center for Governmental Studies and Office for
Social Policy Research.
Other job fields promise to be almost as hot,
from other health care occupations to teaching, information technology and
business and professional services. And more than ever, education will be the
key to the best-paying jobs, employment experts report.
Health
care
Nursing is just one of many fast-growing health-care jobs in 2008.
Ten of the top 25 fastest-growing occupations in Illinois are in health care,
said Mitch Daniels, labor market economist with the Illinois Department of
Employment Security in Springfield.
Along with nursing positions,
physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy jobs also will be
plentiful, said Mary Anne Kelly, vice president and chief human resource officer
for the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council.
"In the therapies, our
aging population is certainly contributing to the demand," Kelly said. "But if
you look at the aging population as a whole, not only is the population we're
serving aging, but those doing the serving are also aging."
As technology
evolves, demand for trained technologists is also surging, Kelly said. That
spells growth for the occupations within the realm of imaging, including
radiologic technologists, ultrasound technologists and nuclear medicine
technologists.
Increasingly, advanced degrees are required to reach the
highest levels in some health care fields. To land jobs as pharmacy techs or
physical therapy assistants, individuals must complete certificate programs or
earn associate degrees. Those at the next level, pharmacists and physical
therapists, require doctoral degrees.
"That's a quantum leap," Kelly
said. "We really need to look at ways to improve access to advanced level
programs in pharmacy and physical therapy."
Computer-related
fields
Six of the top 25 fastest-growing occupations in Illinois are in
information technology, Daniels said. "Fifteen years ago, some of these would
have been fast-growing, but small, fields. They're not so small anymore," he
said, referring to job titles such as network systems analyst, computer software
engineer, database administrator and network and computer systems administrator.
All are good-paying jobs.
Statewide average pay for network systems
analysts is $65,400, while computer software engineers make $77,200 to $87,000.
Database administrators earn annual incomes of $65,200, and network and computer
systems administrators $61,600.
Professional, business
services
Four occupations listed under professional and business services
placed among the top 50 fastest-growing jobs in Illinois, Daniels said.
Actuaries are in demand, because Illinois is a headquarters state for a number
of insurance companies.
Several job titles in human resource management
and job training also make the list. "That area becomes more and more critical
as it becomes more important for businesses to attract skilled and qualified
applicants," Daniels said. "The human resources people not only attract those
applicants, but handle their on-the-job training."
Transportation,
warehousing
The chronic shortage of truck drivers has been well
documented, Daniels said. But also in demand are those who work in the logistics
end of transportation.
"Down near Joliet, Kankakee and on the south side
of Chicago, warehousing is booming," he said. "Anecdotally, we hear people
screaming for logistics technicians. And railroad occupations are really growing
in the Chicago area. But it's a tough field, because like trucking, you're away
from home a lot."
Manufacturing
Just as it has for years, Illinois
will continue to lose manufacturing jobs in the coming year. But opportunity
will still exist in manufacturing, said Ralph Martire, executive director for
the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "As older workers retire, there
will be opportunities for younger folks," he said.
"This is good news for
people who only have a high school degree, but could go on and earn an
associate's degree or a vocational or technical degree, and obtain one of these
jobs to replace a retiring older worker," said Martire.
Other hot
jobs
By industry sector, the leisure and hospitality industry is one of
the hottest employment fields.
Encompassing job titles like food
preparation workers, waiters and waitresses, restaurant and hotel managers and
maids and housekeeping workers, this sector will serve up about 7,000 new jobs
in Illinois in the coming year, Daniels said.
The wholesale and retail
trade, including retail salespersons and cashiers, will ring up about 6,000 new
jobs across the state in 2008.
And educational services will offer about
5,300 positions for elementary and secondary school teachers, special education
teachers, vocational education teachers and community college, college and
university faculty members, Daniels said.
As Martire observed, young
people will be able to land manufacturing positions by earning vocational or
associate's degrees. But significantly, many of the individuals they will
replace in those jobs didn't need more than a high school diploma, if
that.
"This is a big change," he said. "You have to learn to earn. Since
1980, the only class of Illinois workers seeing its inflation-adjusted wages
grow is the class of workers with college degrees. Everyone else has realized an
inflation-adjusted decrease."
The numbers tell a compelling story. Over
the last 25 years, college degree recipients saw their inflation-adjusted
incomes climb 14.3 percent. Those who attended college but didn't graduate
witnessed a decline of 4.3 percent.
Individuals with only a high school
diploma suffered an 8.7 percent income drop, and those who didn't finish high
school saw inflation-adjusted incomes plunge almost 30 percent.
"That's
scary," Martire said. "The days when you could earn good wages, put two cars in
the garage and support a family with only a high school diploma are
over."
- - -
10 hot jobs in Illinois
1. Registered
nurses
2. Retail salespeople
3. Laborers and freight, stock and
material movers
4. Janitors and cleaners, except
maids/housekeepers
5. Business operations specialists
6. Customer
service representatives
7. Secondary school teachers
8. Truck
drivers
9. Food preparation and fast-food workers
10. Waiters and
waitresses
Source: State of Working Illinois Report 2007