Labor Market

• The Labor Market refers to the supply and demand for labor, or jobs.

• Just like any other market, consumers and producers trade according to supply and demand

• Supply (Or Producers): The Workers / Employees

• Demand (Or Consumers): The Companies / Bosses

• In any economy, labor is important because labor is what gets anything done.

• The Labor Market tries to balance different categories, industries, and skill levels of different jobs in the US economy.

• Today, we will learn about these categories, industries, skill levels, etc that define different types of jobs.

An “Industry” is a group of companies or section of the economy that is related based on their primary goods or services.

There are also different way to group industries.

​US Industries

​US Industries

​US Industries by State

How industries change over time is important to think about when thinking of careers.

Some industries have declined a lot - Agriculture used to be a majority of the US economy, but is now less than 10%.

Other industries are created and grow - the tech industry has grown over the past 10-20 years, and the energy industry is also growing.

Skill level generally refers to how much specific education, certification, or training is needed to do a job.

Education refers to formal schooling, ranging from high school to college.

Different jobs and careers will require different levels of school education.

The most basic level of education is high school / GED.

College is usually divided into Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees.

Some careers will require further education (Doctoral degree). (PhD, EdD, MD, JD)

Certification refers to training programs and tests that are outside of formal schooling.

There are many different types of certifications, and some careers require certificates, while certificates may just be recommended.

Licenses are usually issues by a government or agency, and are required for certain careers.

For example, an Attorney (Lawyer) in California needs a State Bar License. This involves having the required education and passing the Bar exam.

Even Barbers and Beauty Workers (e.g. Nail Salon) each need to get a California Cosmetology License.

• How much on-the-job training is needed?

• On-the-job training means training that is done after you have accepted a job.

• For example, a restaurant chef might have on-the-job training for their first 1-2 weeks. They might shadow the other chefs to learn recipes, techniques, and how the specific restaurant operates.