Jobs on the Brink: Fastest Declining Occupations

Are you considering becoming a typist? Or have you thought about mastering the art of data entry keying? Well, hold your horses! It might be time to reassess your career choices. With technology advancing at a breakneck pace, it seems that some jobs just can’t keep up.

So, before you start your training, remember: haste makes waste. It’s important to stay on top of job market trends and think carefully before choosing a career path. Or, you might just find yourself out of a job faster than you can say “encode.”

Job opportunities in word processing are expected to decrease by 38 percent

Recent reports suggest that the job of a word processor or a typist is the number one fastest declining occupation in the U.S.

In 2021, more than 46,000 people worked as typists and word processors. However, by the year 2031, this number will have presumably shrunk by a significant 38.2 percent. And this field is expected to employ no more than 28,500 people within a decade.

In today’s world, most written communication takes place electronically. Naturally, with the advent of voice recognition software and other automation tools, we don’t need to do as much manual typing and transcription as we used to.

While there will still be some need for human intervention in certain situations, it is clear that automation will play an increasingly important role in the future of typing and word processing.

The tumble continues: More occupations expected to shrink significantly

Word processors and typists are apparently not the only endangered species in the job market. The second-most rapidly shrinking profession in the U.S. is a parking enforcement worker with an expected drop of 37.1 percent in available jobs by 2031 (bringing the number of employees down from 8,600 to 5,400).

The job of ticketing people who break parking rules is gradually being taken over by machines like license plate readers. And as a result, it might not be up to a human parking enforcement worker to catch rule-breakers anymore.

Here are some more professions that are facing significant employment declines, according to recent projections:

Cutters, trimmers, hand

Employment in 2021: 8,200
Projected employment in 2031: 5,900
Employment decline: 28.4%

Nuclear power reactor operators

Employment in 2021: 4,800
Projected employment in 2031: 3,500
Employment decline: 26.8%

Print binding and finishing workers

Employment in 2021: 42,200
Projected employment in 2031: 31,800
Employment decline: 24.8%

Watch and clock repairers

Employment in 2021: 2,200
Projected employment in 2031: 1,700
Employment decline: 24.7%

Data Entry Keyers

Employment in 2021: 155,900
Projected employment in 2031: 117,400
Employment decline: 24.7%

For more interesting job market stats and hiring trends, check out our #kickdata.