ications firms will help. Hot Jobs: Stockholders, financial analysts, research scientists, chemists, engineers, film directors and producers” (Hube, 1996: 3). However, many other occupational trends are hot in Long Island, and all of them can be traced to one trend or another that is national.
In the recent past, Long Island has been losing net jobs each year as manufacturing has continued to decline in the area, with the biggest losses aside from this industry coming in construction, airlines, real estate development and managerial support services (to be expected since many companies have down-sized a move that has eliminated many middle-managers). Labor Department analysts predict the largest decline in jobs to be among laborers, operators and fabricators. In Long Island this trend is expected to be even more devastating because of the predominance of manufacturing in the area, “That group comprised 14% of the total national workforce in 1990 but by the end of the decade it is expected to decline about 12%. Regional economists say that trend will be exacerbated in the New York/Long Island area, which has seen a severe decline in manufacturing” (Dougherty, 1992: 2). One can see again how regional trends are related to national ones.
There is good news for Long Island, however, and much of the good news comes from the fact that national trends for occupations are favorable for the types of industries to be found in Long Island. The fastest growing occupations for the next ten years list among them, home health aides, paralegals, systems analysts and computer scientists, therapists and medical assistants. The aging baby boomer population and the explosion in the technology industry continue to keep many of these jobs hot. Without a doubt, technology oriented occupations are one of the hottest trends in Long Island. The top ten jobs in this field listed in the latest Long Island Job Tech Board are: CA-Advance; A...