Personnel and Labor Relations Specialists

Employment for human resources specialists will grow faster than the average for all careers from 2023 through 2033, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL reports that "demand for human resources specialists is expected to be strong over the projections decade as more of these workers are needed to help meet strategic organizational priorities."

Instead of employing human resources specialists in-house, many companies are outsourcing work to firms that specialize in this function. Therefore, employment should be strong with employment and consulting firms that offer personnel services to businesses that cannot afford to have their own extensive staffs. Additionally, the increasing complexity of benefits and employment law will likely create a need for more human resources generalists.

Job opportunities for labor relations specialists are projected to show little or no change from 2023 to 2033 as a result of declining union membership in recent years. Employment for personnel recruiters may slow as more companies conduct their entire recruiting and application process online, sending fewer recruiters to college campuses to meet with job candidates. Also, some general recruiting tasks are being automated with the help of human resources information systems software—reducing the number of recruiting personnel. As jobs change with new technology, more employers will need training specialists to teach new skills.