From Flowing Data comes a chart showing trends in job growth and decline over the past 4 decades. As you move the cursor over the graph, you can see what jobs correspond to the lines on the graph. 

Here's a snapshot (click to go to the interactive chart)

Questions:

• Three fastest growing jobs since 1970? Three jobs that have seen greatest decline? 
• What jobs were most impacted by the Great Recession of 2008-09? Have they recovered to their pre-recession levels?
• Focus on the last decade. Which jobs seem to have the fastest growth (remember to to go the interactive so you can see the occupations corresponding to the lines)? What jobs seem to be undergoing the most dramatic declines? 
• Find 2-3 careers that you are interested in. What has been the trends with those jobs? Is this encouraging or discouraging to you? 

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These interactives pertaining to careers have been popular recently: 

• Career outcomes by college major
• Visualizing salaries by hundreds of occupations

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 Lots more of great interactives can be found in the NGPF Interactive Library

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.