WAXHAW -- With an economy in shambles, the United States Department of Labor will be revising 2008-2018 employment projections, set for release on Dec. 10 at 10 a.m.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is responsible for projections that predict areas of job growth in 10-year increments, as well as changes in the job market. The last set of projections, which were released in 2006 and offered the BLS’s snapshot of the 2016 job market, projected an increase of 15.6 million jobs.

BLS officials said they cannot comment about the new projections, which will factor in the post-recession landscape. On Oct. 2, the agency’s statisticians reported that “since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8 percent.”

South Piedmont Community College’s Director of Human Resource Development, Linda Kappauf, has projections of her own after dealing with the unemployed on a daily basis.

Kappauf helps run a set of free human resource development classes at SPCC available to anyone unemployed or underemployed. The classes count as a continuing education credit.

Over the past year, Kappauf and SPCC have seen a dramatic drop in employment in Union County.

“We could see, wow, last October, November, it’s all of a sudden, phone’s ringing off the hook,” Kappauf said. “ ... A lot of people that came to us first were working in real estate, construction, automotive. Last October, Novem-

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ber, boy we could see the change right away.”

In 2006, the BLS predicted real estate employment would increase 10.71 percent by 2016, and construction management would increase 15.71 percent.

Career paths on the rise have been anything to deal with energy, such as alternative fuels, going green and solar panel installation, according to Kappauf – but the problem is finding people to spread the knowledge.

“The problem right now is you have people that are trained to do it, but it’s hard to get people to leave what they are doing and train people,” Kappauf said.

Health care is another hot field that has increased enrollment at SPCC. Kappauf said new students are pursuing nursing, medical technologists, and even massage therapy.

Many therapists, such as physical, speech and occupational are expected to be on the rise.

“Think about the baby boomers,” Kappauf said. “As we’re getting older and we might have a stroke, might have a heart attack, might break a hip or something, these are all people that help you rehab and get back.”

Post-secondary teaching positions were expected to grow 22.86 percent from 2006 to 2016, a prediction that might actually come true, thanks — ironically — to people seeking retraining and new careers in the recession.

Out of the 58 community colleges in the North Carolina, there have been 20,000 additional full-time students from the 2008 fall semester to the 2009 fall semester, “unprecedented enrolment numbers,” according to a press release from North Carolina Community College System in Raleigh.

One explanation for the community college increase – many cannot afford to pay tuition at a four-year university.

“Adult-ed, community colleges, across the state of North Carolina, our enrollment is up, both in curriculum and continuing education,” Kappauf said, “Because we are the ones who are most likely to work with the unemployed right now to get them through retraining.

“Also look at some of the adults who have children that are college age, that maybe wanted to go to [The University of North Carolina at] Chapel Hill or [North Carolina State University], that now that they’ve lost a job, at least community college is an affordable option for some of these people ... and then they can transfer to those four year colleges.”