What is the OOH?

Published: Sep 29, 2022 1:49 PM | By Frank Burtnett | Viewed: 1911
Category: Columns, Expert Advice | Tags: Candidates, Placement, Jobs

EMInfo Reader: A librarian in our community suggested that one of my candidates seeking a career change spend some time reading the U.S Labor Department’s Occupation Outlook Handbook. What is it? Where can I find a copy?

Dr. Burtnett: Since it first published a print version of the Occupational Outlook Handbook(OOH) in 1948, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor has used occupational information collected by economists, statisticians, and other researchers to provide up-to-date information for the public consumer on what workers do; the work environment, education, training and other qualification; pay; employment outlook and other data.

More than 300 occupational profiles covering approximately 80 percent of the jobs performed in America are contained in the occupational profiles and numerous states have extended the BLS work to include similar information on their websites for the same occupations.

This publication has been an indispensable resource for community, school, college, and other librarians and used by counselors and placement officers in these same organizations to help students and young adults in their career planning and development.

No longer available in print form, the OOH can be fully accessed at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ Given that the information is produced and disseminated by the federal government, it is free to use and considered in the “public domain” for any user that wants to reproduce and disseminate it.

Written by

Frank Burtnett

Dr. Frank Burtnett is the former President of Education Now, an independent consulting firm headquartered in Springfield, Virginia and Rockport, Maine. Since 1995, he has served as the principal consultant to NAPS on certification, accreditation, credentialing and educational matters. He was recently elected to the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS) Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions to the professional development of search and staffing industry consultants. Frank is a counselor, educator, consultant, and author whose career has been dedicated to educational and career development issues, as well as service to the profession through management roles in professional counseling organizations. Today, he serves as an adjunct professor on the counselor education faculty of Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. His most recent publication, Career Challenges, examines the things people “do wrong” and “don’t do” in their quest for career satisfaction, work life after COVID and life–work balance. Two earlier youth and young-adult oriented guidebooks concentrated on the school-to-college and education-to-work transitions. Frank earned a BS in education at Shippensburg University and an MA and an EdD in counseling at George Washington University. Frank Burtnett invites career questions to answer in his new Q&A on EMinfo. Submit to Frank at ednow@aol.com His book Career Challenges was published by the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. You can order his book: Career Challenges here > https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475868081/Career-Challenges-Straight-Talk-about-Achieving-Success-in-the-Technology-Driven-Post-COVID-World-of-Work-3rd-Edition