Dietitians and nutritionists, outdoor recreation specialists, land use planners, and food inspectors lead the list of social services professionals who are expected to enjoy a strong job market during 2000-2005.  A somewhat weaker employment market is expected for rural sociologists, labor relations specialists, and government agricultural agency representatives. 
  
 This employment cluster is dominated by dietitians, nutritionists, and recreation workers.  Dietitians and nutritionists account for 41 percent of the 5,358 projected average annual openings for social services professionals. Twenty-seven percent of the openings are projected for recreation workers with forestry and natural resources expertise.  Food and nutrition counselors are another important group of food and agricultural science social services professionals. 

 More than an adequate supply of social services professionals is anticipated during 2000-2005.  Some 6,570 qualified graduates are expected to be available each year.  Colleges of agriculture and natural resources are expected to produce about three-fourths of the qualified graduates with the remainder coming from allied academic disciplines such as biology, human nutrition, sociology, and psychology.   

 About 85 percent of the qualified social services professionals will have baccalaureate degrees.  Some 14 percent are expected to have master’s degrees, and one percent will have earned doctoral degrees.  Best qualified graduates will have strong interpersonal communication skills and work experiences which support their technical academic specialties such as nutrition, food science, sociology, and forestry and natural resources.

It is anticipated that many of the surplus graduates can be trained for employment in clusters that have large demand deficits such as Managers and Financial Specialists or Marketing, Merchandising, & Sales Representatives. 

In summary, the supply of graduates is greatly higher than the demand for graduates but it is anticipated those graduates can obtain employment in other clusters.