Over the last couple of years the job market has slowly deteriorated, while the unemployment rate soared to new levels that this generation has not seen. Though the economy has been in an extensive reces­sion, this year’s college grads may anticipate an open­ing job market.

     According to CollegeBoard.com, some of the occupations with the highest growth expectancy by 2012 are paralegals and legal assistants, medical as­sistants, preschool teachers, graphic designers and dental assistants.

     Most of these jobs only require an associate’s de­gree and Tyler Junior College offers a number of the programs to attain such a degree.

     “There are always shortages in the nursing fields and soon there may be a shortage for teachers,” said Kim Stacy, supervisor of employment services for Texas Workforce Solutions in Tyler.

     In East Texas there are many hospitals and a ton of opportunities, as well as many other regions in America. There is always a need for employees in the health care field. One can do things such as be­ing an administrative assistant, patient account rep­resentative, medical information specialist, insurance specialist and/or coding specialist.

     The students who decide to take part in the medical field as a major have to go through rigor­ous classes and training but once they graduate, there will always be a need in the profession. Anyone with degrees in nursing or medical office management has a good chance of finding work anywhere. According to the Texas Board of Nursing the graduates needed for supply to meet demand in 2010 was 9,700. Texas only produced 8,913. The expected amount of gradu­ates needed for supply to meet demand in 2013 is 15,199.

     “The nursing faculty is an aging workforce.” said Rebecca Seeton, department chair of nursing at Tyler Junior College.

     The baby boomer’s generation is now able to re­tire or find it better suited to go into teaching, rather than work twelve hour shifts in the hospital causing them to leave the hospital as well as opening slots to be filled by recently qualified applicants. According to Seeton, associates degrees produce 59 percent of nurses in the state of Texas.

     “TJC has grown in the number of nurses that are being produced from 2008. I had 102 graduates in 2010. I expect 134 [students] to graduate in 2011,” said Seeton. “So we [nursing program] are growing the best we can.”

     The education field alone has many job open­ings such as teachers of all grade levels, school board officials and counselors. These jobs require an asso­ciate’s degree or beyond and are thought to have a lot of opportunities opening up in the near future. The students who are graduating between now and five years are said to have a job ready because of the teachers who have been retiring or not meeting the requirements to teach.

     The field of education is of importance to the future of the economy. If children are not taught ef­fectively then there is a risk of the economy going back “downhill” in the future.

     “There are now more positions for part-time and full-time employment,” said Stacey. Because of this, the graduates of the near future are looking at an opening job market and motivation to continue pursuing their education.