Teaching, accounting catching up to tech jobs in growth

by Laura M. Schneider
Staff Writer

The Columbus Public Schools will hire between 500 and 700 teachers this year.

And the need for licensed teachers likely will maintain or grow in the next few years, said Andrew Marcelain, a Columbus schools system spokesman.

Teachers, as well as accountants, salesmen and management trainees, are joining the ranks of technology-based workers as those most highly recruited this year from college graduates, according to a study from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

“There’s a bit more variety,” said Camille Luckenbaugh, NACE employment information manager. “Usually it’s pretty heavy on the engineering discipline.”

Engineering majors need not worry — they still are being heavily recruited, according to the NACE Salary Survey, a quarterly report of starting salary offers to new college graduates.

Employers continue to recruit strongly for technology-related positions in Ohio. But many university officials said employers need education, sales and communications majors because of economic changes.

“Education has maybe taken the place of tech,” said Tom Korvas, Ohio University director of career services. “It’s a good time to be graduating in education.”

Many employers visiting the University of Toledo also are seeking education and communications majors, said Ellen Nagy, UT director of career services. She expects a boom for education to last five to six years as many teachers retire.

But the demand for engineering and technology majors is not as high as in past years, she said.

“Engineering is down a bit, because we’re in an area where there are huge layoffs,” Nagy said.

Korvas said despite the economic slowdown for technology jobs, the need still exists.

Craig Simpson, associate director of career services at Kent State University, also said there is a demand for education and accounting majors. But many of the positions available are for internships.

“Internships are more cost effective. Not that there aren’t a lot of employers hiring full time, at this juncture more are utilizing internships as their training ground for new hires,” he said.

Simpson said salaries offered to students have been similar to last year’s, with respect to cost of living.

For teaching, the average salary offer is slightly more than $30,000 a year, according to the NACE salary survey.

Though cyclical trends are resulting in increased demand for certain majors, the Bureau of Labor Statistics still is placing technology jobs at the top of their list for the fastest-growing occupations in the next decade.

Computer software engineering, network and computer systems administration and desktop publishing should grow the fastest between 2000 and 2010, according to the BLS employment projections. Medical assistants and personal and home care aides also made the list.

The BLS projections for largest job growth included food preparation and serving workers, registered nurses and computer support specialists.