TPC-Journal-V5-Issue1

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 1 7 occupational titles in the census across six decades, as follows: Realistic 46%, Investigative 12%, Artistic 3%, Social 12%, Enterprising 18% and Conventional 9%. This distribution is similar to what was found in 2010: Realistic 43%, Investigative 11%, Artistic 4%, Social 13%, Enterprising 18% and Conventional 11%. Figure 1 shows in graphic form that the schemas used to describe work activities in the U.S. economy have remained relatively stable over 6 decades. Employment in Six Kinds of Work, 1960–2010 In analyzing U.S. employment data over 6 decades, we focused on the detailed occupations as in previous census studies (Reardon et al., 2007). Table 2 indicates that the total estimated employment increased over the 6 decades from 64.1 million in 1960 to 119.8 million in 2010. Table 2 and Figure 2 reveal that the percentage of Realistic employment declined 28% from 1960–2010, an average of about 4.7% for each decade. However, and in spite of this decline, the Realistic area showed that 31.9 million persons were employed in 2010, and the Realistic area had the highest level of employment across the six RIASEC areas in each census period. The Artistic area had the fewest number employed in 2010 with 2.0 million. Table 2 and Figure 2 show that the percentage of employment in the Social area increased from 9% in 1960 to 24% in 2010, or 5.6 million to 29.6 million persons. During the same period, employment in the Investigative area increased from 3% in 1960 to 10% in 2010, or 2.0 million to 11.5 million persons. Employment in the other four areas remained more stable. Figure 2 graphically shows that the RIASEC employment profile for highest to lowest areas was RSECIA in 1960 compared to RECSIA in 2010. The Realistic, Investigative, and Artistic areas maintained their positions over this time period. Table 2 Number and Percentage of Persons Employed in Six Kinds of Work, 1960–2010 Census Year (Detailed Occupations) Kind of Work 1960 a 1970 a 1980 1990 2000 2010 R 35,029 34,342 42,253 42,711 36,700 31,868 55% 48% 42% 37% 30% 27% I 1,986 3,690 4,169 6,738 9,315 11,457 3% 5% 4% 6% 8% 10% A 756 975 1,277 1,552 1,622 2,027 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% S 5,611 8,390 10,815 14,983 18,821 29,563 9% 12% 11% 13% 16% 24% E 11,106 12,153 25,920 29,668 35,946 23,991 17% 17% 25% 26% 30% 20% C 9,569 12,658 17,540 20,086 18,574 20,878 15% 17% 17% 17% 15% 17% Total 64,057 72,208 101,974 115,738 120,978 119,784 Note . Employment numbers are in millions rounded to the nearest thousand. a Used by permission of Academic Press Inc., Journal of Vocational Behavior , 10 , p. 131. Copyright 1977 Academic Press Inc.