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.