Reveal Information - Can you throw an economist farther than you can trust one?

The state employment forecast is out, predicting the rate of job gowth and which occupations will be hot. Look for professional and business services along with health services and education to be big in 2012.

But economists are not very good at predicting the future. National Public Radio's "Planet Money" reports that "Economic forecasters failed to predict the 1982 recession or the 1984 recovery or the late 1990 stock bubble or the 2001 recession."

Economist Simon Johnson from MIT says "Economic forecasting is inherently an impossible task." Unpredictable things happen, he claims, letting forecasters off the hook.

Why do we listen to them? Because both business and government have to plan, and we have to work with some scenario to help customers succeed. One thing we know for sure--whatever it looks like, the future is coming.

According to the 2009 Washington State Labor Market and Economic Report, employment will not reach pre-recession levels until the first quarter of 2012. This is relatively good news for us, as it reports the nation as a whole won't achieve that benchmark until the fourth quarter of 2012.

When assisting customers with career plans, you may want to keep in mind the prediction that "Washington state is projected to add an estimated 307,000 net new nonfarm jobs between 2007 and 2017, with an average annual growth rate of 1 percent. With the exception of mining and logging and manufacturing, all major industry sectors are projected to grow from 2007 to 2017.

Within the services-providing industries, most job growth is expected to come from professional and business services (+87,500) and education and health services (+77,400).

Computer software engineers, applications and computer software engineers, systems software are among the top 10 occupations for growth rate, level of employment, and earnings. All require higher levels of education."