Skills savvy: a skills-based look at occupational data

This article uses information from the Employment Projections (EP) and Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) programs at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to take a skills-based look at occupational data. The first half of the article presents an overview of skills scores by various occupational characteristics, including projected employment, typical entry-level education, and whether the occupation is classified as a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupation. The second half focuses on critical and analytical thinking skills and mechanical skills to present two case studies on the relationship among occupations, industries, and geographic areas. Do you like to analyze the reasoning in an argument? Or maybe you prefer to troubleshoot and repair broken mechanical equipment? If you do, then you enjoy using your critical and analytical thinking skills or your mechanical skills. These skills are just 2 of 17 work-related skills identified by the Employment Projections (EP) program at the U.S.