FUTURE U.S. DEMAND

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, employment of clinical laboratory workers is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2010, as the volume of laboratory tests increases with population growth and the development of new types of tests.

Technological advances will continue to have two opposing effects on employment through 2010. New, increasingly powerful diagnostic tests will encourage additional testing and spur employment. On the other hand, research and development efforts targeted at simplifying routine testing procedures may enhance the ability of nonlaboratory personnel, physicians and patients, in particular, to perform tests now done in laboratories.

Although significant, growth will not be the only source of opportunities. As in most occupations, many openings will result from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations, retire, or stop working for some other reason.

EMPLOYMENT

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians held about 295,000 jobs in 2000. About half worked in hospitals. Most of the remaining jobs were found in medical laboratories or offices and clinics of physicians. A small number were in blood banks, research and testing laboratories, and in the Federal Government—at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and U.S. Public Health Service facilities.