In Thursday’s (6/30) Miller-McCune, Tom Jacobs writes, “Is your heart set on a career in the arts while your head points you in a more practical direction? If so, a newly published research report by the National Endowment for the Arts should help get those warring organs in synch. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the NEA projects a growth rate of 11 percent for arts-related occupations over the next seven years. Perhaps surprisingly, that’s a bit higher than the projected increase of 10 percent for the overall labor force. Granted, the figure is lower than many other fields in the ‘professional and related occupations’ category, such as the 72 percent projected increase in jobs for biomedical engineers. Nevertheless, the need for qualified professionals in many arts-related occupations is expected to grow as fast, or faster, than the job market as a whole through the year 2018. Museum professionals will be particularly in demand. Projected growth rates are highest for museum technicians and conservators, at 26 percent; curators, at 23 percent; landscape architects, at 20 percent; interior designers, at 19 percent; and architects, at 16 percent.”
Posted July 5, 2011