The Buzz Bin

I can’t relate to charts, graphs and percentages. It’s like math to me. My mind doesn’t work that way, which is why I’m a writer. When Geoff presented the ‘Human Capital: Greater Washington’s Knowledge Workers Executive Summary,’ a study by the Greater Washington Initiative, an affiliate of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, and said blog about it, I thought, no problem.

I went through the document with a fine tooth comb. I looked at all the charts, graphs and percentages and tried to make sense of it all. It’s all good, what it’s saying for Greater Washington. Let me throw some statistics out there. The study says we have 1.1 million knowledge workers, which are defined as those whose daily job tasks require them to use, analyze and develop ideas and information, the nation’s highest concentration among all metro areas with more than a million people. It compares our knowledgeable workforce against San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and New York.

It means we’re up there with the best of them. Our knowledgeable workforce, which also includes suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia, is expected to grow 16.1 percent by 2014, reaching 1.3 million workers. From 1999 to 2005, it grew 20 percent. This is good news, but I’m still trying to figure out what it means for me. Personally, how will this affect me?

It says our largest talent pool comes from professional services, which includes marketing and public relations. When it comes to PR, the knowledgeable workforce is nearly 2.5 times larger than the national average and outpaces all major competitive markets. Since 1999, we have added 5,900 employees in PR. In the last five years, one of the fastest growing occupations included public relations specialists.

Does it mean more jobs in the future, a larger talent pool to choose from, increased competition? I’m not sure how it breaks down for what it means to me as a writer and a pr professional. I like things spelled out. So, I struggled as I opted to tell you about this study because if I can’t tell you what it means to me I certainly can’t tell you what it means to you. I guess what I could say is that we’re in the right field, one that is constantly evolving, especially compared to the dwindling world of newspapers and magazine from which I came.

This completes my second blog entry. Well, that’s not technically true. I’ve written a few others. I like it. Although I’ve published in national newspapers and magazines, it’s different. Somehow the print world seems safer. Here, you hit click and it’s just “out there.� As a writer, it’s a different experience. But I’m getting used to it.