If you want to make a living out of your love for writing, knowing the economic outlook for writing-related jobs is a must. Hear this: your passion alone will not bring food on the table. And writing, ladies and gentlemen, may consume your time, thoughts, and energy beyond the loads of espresso your body can contain.
Whether you are a technical or a creative writer, a copywriter or a reporter, a job outlook from a recognized and established fact-finding agency will do an undeniable service for your objective and subjective realities.
As a writer, there will be moments wherein money concern will distract your focus and the scarcity of writing projects and income may cause you to abandon your dream or shelf your plans. And in those phases where in your passion is showing wear-and-tear due to discouragements, job outlook can be that flicker of light sending you some hope and oomph as it carries you through the end of the tunnel.
Classifications
For the job outlook, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) put authors and writers into one category, technical writers into another, and journalists in another separate category.
The authors and writers category include copywriters, biographers, generalists, novelists, songwriters and playwrights. Writers and authors develop written content for advertisements, books, magazines, movie and television scripts, songs, and online publications.
On the other hand, technical writers prepare instruction manuals, journal articles, and other supporting documents to communicate complex and technical information more easily. Technical writers also develop, gather, and disseminate technical information among customers, designers, and manufacturers.
Reporters, correspondents, and broadcast news analysts comprise the journalists category. They inform the public about news and events happening internationally, nationally, and locally. They report the news for newspapers, magazines, websites, television, and radio.
A Slow 3% Job Growth for Authors and Writers
BLS expected job opportunities for writers and authors to grow by 3 percent in a 10-year span starting 2012, a rate slower than the average job growth for all occupations. As of 2012, writers and authors earned a median pay of $55,940 annually with the lowest 10% earning less than $27,770 and the upper 10% earning over $117,860. They held about 129,100 jobs of which 50% were self-employed and 25% worked part time.
A Fast 15% Job Growth for Technical Writers
Job opportunities for technical writers are projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations by 15% from 2012 to 2022. Driven by the continuing expansion of scientific and technical products and by growth in Web-based product support, job outlook for technical writers is very optimistic. With a median annual wage of $65,500 in May 2012, technical writing can be a lucrative niche for most writers.
A 13% Decline in Job Growth for Journalists
Reporters and correspondents have the least median annual wage among writing-related workers at $35,870. The lowest 10% earned as little as $20,770 and the top 10% made as high as $78,530. For the broadcast news analysts, the median annual salary was at $55,380 as of May 2012. The lowest 10% earned as low as $27,450 and the top 10% earned more than $170,400. BLS projected a 13% decline in job opportunities for all journalists from 2012 to 2022. The decline in employment growth is attributed to the decline in advertising revenue in radio, newspapers, and television.
Job Outlook Matters
The benefit of knowing the job outlook in a given career path is not in having the assurance of earning more. Rather, it rests in knowing what awaits you in your journey so that you can manage your expectations, finances and emotional being. When you know what to expect, you can prepare and plan. And in any writing-related jobs, preparation and planning are as essential as content development itself and marketing.
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