If your job involves a lot of paper shuffling, chances are that you could be in serious danger of losing it in 2014.
CareerCast, a job seeker's site, says that jobs involving paper — everything from newspaper reporters to lumberjacks — will be the hardest hit as economic realities and the invasion of new technologies put old, and especially traditional, careers at risk of virtually disappearing.
In its list of the top 10 endangered jobs, the fading influence of paper, and its replacement with digital, online reading, writing, and mailing, is hard to miss.
One of the hardest hit jobs will be that of mail carriers.
"The proliferation of online communication and immediate accessibility have profoundly impacted postal services. As our society gains more and easier access to web connectivity, the decline in postal jobs over the coming decade is expected to be severe," CareerCast said. "Employment will be adversely affected by the decline in first-class mail volume due to increasing use of automated bill pay and email."
The annual median salary for the job is $53,100 and by 2022, the hiring outlook is down by 28 percent.
Basing its study on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CareerCast said newspaper reporters, at an average salary of $37,090, will become an endangered species, because, "Declining subscription and dwindling advertising sales have negatively impacted the hiring power of some newspapers, while others have ceased operations altogether. Online outlets continue to replace traditional newspapers and the long-term outlook for newspaper reporters reflects the change."
Travel agents, at an average median salary of $34,600, will take a 12 percent job hit, largely because of those who book trips themselves online.
Lumberjacks will face declining jobs, too.
"Technological advances in the logging industry require fewer lumberjacks and, with less wood pulp needed for paper-based products, demand in the industry is down," the report said.
Printing workers will see their $34,100 jobs start to disappear, because as the world becomes more digital, "less work is done on paper. That, in turn, translates to fewer workers needed for hard copy printing jobs."
Other jobs in declining demand include tax examiners and collectors, with average salaries of $50,440, largely because of budget reductions. Farmers, averaging $69,300, will be less required because "technology allows those already in farming to accomplish more with fewer resources, particularly workers."
As utility companies begin to use more remote viewing of power meters, meter readers will see their $36,410 jobs decline by 19 percent. Flight attendants' $37,240 jobs will drop by 7 percent because of cutbacks on the number of flights and airline mergers.
Drill press operators will lose jobs, which pay an average of $32,950 because of technological advances in manufacturing and a sagging manufacturing market.
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