TPC-Journal-V5-Issue1

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 1 5 1990 census . Comprehensive information about the 1990 census was provided by the U.S. Census Bureau (1992a, 1992b), and was based on 500 selected occupations. G. D. Gottfredson and Holland (1996) indicated that this classification was most closely related to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC; U.S. Department of Commerce, 1980). The U.S. population count in 1990 was 283,928,233 (U.S. Census Bureau, 1992b). Four new categories of work were added to the 1990 census while six from the 1980 census were eliminated. 2000 census . The 2000 census counted 281,421,906 people in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As in the past, short and long forms were used with about 17% (1 in 6 households) receiving the latter (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). The 2000 census included 471 occupations classified using the SOC (U.S. Department of Labor, 2000). 2010 census . The 2010 census counted 308,745,538 people in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This census included 539 occupations, including those with “all other” titles representing occupations with a wide range of characteristics not fitting into one of the O*NET detailed occupations. However, as in prior studies, the focus was on the detailed occupations in the 2010 census ( N = 494) and excluded military-based occupations. The information collected in the 2010 census was based on the short form rather than the long form, which means that demographic information about gender, salary and age was not collected relative to occupations. Lowe (2010) noted that the introduction of the American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau provided the most sweeping change in census data collection in 60 years. The American Community Survey is a nationwide, continuous survey designed to provide reliable and timely demographic housing, social and economic data every year, in contrast to the long form, which provided data only at the beginning of each decade. After locating the 2010 census data from the U.S. Census Bureau with lists of occupations categorized with census and SOC codes, we organized the information into a spreadsheet using the following headings: Occupation 2010 category description (e.g., management occupations), Occupation (e.g., chief executive), 2010 Census Code (e.g., 0010) and 2010 SOC Code (e.g., 11-1011). Additional columns were created to incorporate Holland code information for 2010 employment data and mean annual wages. The SOC (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010) was used to collect employment and salary information from the O*NET system ( http://online. onetcenter.org/ ). O*NET is a comprehensive database that provides information on 780 occupations, worker skills and job training requirements. O*NET is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The Self-Directed Search Occupations Finder—Revised Edition (OF; Holland & PAR Staff, 2010) and the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (DHOC; G. D. Gottfredson & Holland, 1996) also were used to obtain the first-letter Holland code for each specific occupation. Employment data and mean annual wages for census occupations were found in O*NET. A Note about Data Analysis Previous studies of employment using census data and Holland codes have reported frequency and percentage distributions, and this study continued that approach. As earlier researchers have noted (G. D. Gottfredson & Daiger, 1977), the sample sizes are so large that the magnitude of observed differences is more important than statistical differences. Rounded numbers are used in this report to the nearest percent or thousand in order to avoid communicating a misplaced sense of precision in the findings.