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Career Path Forecast
 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of atmospheric scientists, including meteorologists is projected to grow 6 percent from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations.
New types of computer models have vastly improved the accuracy of forecasts and allowed atmospheric scientists to tailor forecasts to specific purposes. This should maintain, and perhaps increase, the need for atmospheric scientists working in private industry as businesses demand more specialized weather information. Businesses increasingly rely on just-in-time delivery to avoid the expenses incurred by traditional inventory management methods. Severe weather can interrupt ground or air transportation and delay inventory delivery.
Businesses have begun to maintain forecasting teams around the clock to advise delivery personnel, and this availability helps them stay on schedule. In addition, severe weather patterns have become widely recognizable, and industries have become increasingly concerned about their impact, which will create demand for work in atmospheric science. As utility companies continue to adopt wind and solar power, they must depend more heavily on weather forecasting to arrange for buying and selling power. This should lead to increased reliance on atmospheric scientists employed in firms in professional, scientific, and technical services to help utilities know when they can sell their excess power, and when they will need to buy.
Of course, farmers, commodity investors, insurance companies,
utilities, and transportation and construction firms can greatly benefit
from additional weather information.
Additionally, research on seasonal and other long-range forecasting is
yielding positive results, which should spur demand for more atmospheric
scientists to interpret these forecasts and advise climate-sensitive
industries.
There will continue to be demand for atmospheric scientists
to analyze and monitor the dispersion of pollutants into the air to ensure
compliance with Federal environmental regulations, but related employment
increases are expected to be small. Efforts toward making and improving
global weather observations also could have a positive impact on
employment.
Prospective atmospheric scientists should expect continued competition because the number of graduates from meteorology programs is expected to exceed the number of job openings requiring only a bachelor's degree. Workers with a graduate degree should have better prospects than those with a bachelor's degree only. Prospective atmospheric scientists with knowledge of advanced mathematics also will have better job prospects because of the highly quantitative nature of much of this occupation's work. Competition may be strong for research positions at colleges and universities because of the limited number of positions available. In addition, hiring by federal agencies is subject to budget constraints. The best job prospects for meteorologists are expected to be in private industry. Workers with graduate degrees
should enjoy better prospects than those with only a bachelor’s degree.
Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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