Graphic designers in America are projected to show a 24% increase in jobs by 2012 (from 197,460 in 2002 to 244,320 in 2012, according to projectionscentral.com)
In 2002 Illinois there was 8,590 Graphic Designers. They are projecting in 2012, there will be 9,890 for a 15% growth–that’s 46th place. Ouch. Makes me wonder how much of that is Chicago.
The number one state for growth in graphic design? Nevada with a whopping 51% increase. Followed by Kentucky and Utah with 39% each. Kentucky? They have graphic designers down in Kentucky?
The state for the lowest increase? New York, 10%. Haha. In your face, New York!
Nevada, huh? Makes sense, I guess. Somebody has to design all those ads, signs, fliers, etc. I’ve always enjoyed Las Vegas as an example of design that works — and doesn’t. Robert Venturi and Denise Brown wrote a great book on the subject , “Learning From Las Vegas” which recently came out in a revised edition.
This site is 3 years old you can go back and compare their short term projections to reality. In the case of Computer Software Engineers, Applications the website predicted a rise from 15,130 to 15,350. This was the short term projection from 2003 – 2005 for illinois. The actual employment from the U.S. Department of Labor website for May 2005 shows 16,360 Computer Software Engineers, Applications in Illinois. So instead of the predicted 240 new jobs in that field there have been 1,250 new jobs. You can also see the unemployment rates by education and county. Too much stuff to list here… If you feel like getting information overload Check it out
I think there’s two general factors influencing these graphic designer stats. 1. growth. The states experiencing the greatest population growth will obviously bring in more graphic designers along with every other common profession found in our country. That explains partly why Nevada is far and away number one. Las Vegas is exploding. 2. some states just don’t have many graphic designers working in their state to begin with. So when there is a small numerical increase in the state, their percentages will seem high. I’ve also heard that Kentucky was ranked number one by some fashion magazine for something fashionie. I don’t remember what it was, but I guess Kentucky is the big buzz state for celebrities and such.
Even though they’re predicting Nevada will have more growth than Illinois, it will still have only 1,680 GD jobs total, or 17% of what Illinois will have. So it will probably still be easier to get a job in Chicago than Vegas.