High School Diploma Still Is Valuable Will Qualify Applicants For Half Of States New Jobs

State employment officials say lack of a college degree may limit job opportunities, but that doesn’t mean jobs aren’t out there for those with limited education.

In fact, a new state study shows that more than half of all jobs that will be created through the year 2005 will require a high school diploma or less.

“What we have seen in our occupational projections is that, while we have been preoccupied with all the high technology and very skilled stuff, we tend to forget that there are a lot of jobs out there that don’t require a lot of heavy skills or training,” said Robert Baker, the Washington state Employment Security Department’s senior economic analyst.

Most of the job opportunities for workers with a high school education or less will be in King and Snohomish counties, where 343,302 jobs of all types are projected as available between 1995 and 2005.

The greatest percentage of growth in Washington, 3.9 percent, is in the southwestern part of the state in Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties. Baker reports 60,898 jobs of all types will be listed as available in those counties between 1995 and 2005.

Low growth of 1.2 percent or lower is forecast for Eastern Washington, including Spokane County. The Tri-Cities area of Benton and Franklin counties is expected to have virtually no job growth in the same period.

Thurston and Pierce counties are forecast for job growth of 2 percent or better.

In the North Central Region - Adams, Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Okanogan counties - more than 26 percent of all job openings require less than a high school diploma, although there will be only 5,920 of them a year.

“Each region around the state will offer varying opportunities for low-skilled workers, principally because of the disparate industry and occupational mix,” Baker said.

Among jobs that will be available, and typical weekly starting salaries, are: truck drivers, $467; secretaries, $383; general office clerks, $372; laborers, $311; and accounting clerks, $374.

All the salaries are above or close to the national average annual earnings for comparable education attainment reported by the U.S. Bureau of Census.

Nearly 3,800 jobs will open each year throughout the state for cashiers, with 4,696 openings a year in sales.

Jobs also will be available in agriculture, forestry, fishing and services, as well as in fast-food preparation.

“There is a scarcity of low-skill positions in manufacturing, utilities, transportation and finance - sectors with high average wages,” Baker said.

The state’s work force will be increased by about 70,000 welfare recipients under the state’s new WorkFirst welfare-to-jobs program.

“We expect these 70,000 to be moved into the work force in the next couple of years, and there is some concern about how you can ask people to go out and take some of these jobs,” Baker said.

“Well, there already are 500,000 workers in the state holding those jobs now and supporting their families.”

Economic growth and the state’s booming economy are forecast to provide 53,000 jobs a year, with another 61,000 job openings becoming available through replacement.

“Some of those job openings will be the result of the workers now holding them having gained enough experience to move up into better jobs,” Baker said. “That makes their initial job available for another entry-level person.”