Occupations and specialists - numbers in T2K

[atiff]

Hi all,

Working on some ideas, I downloaded the US Bureau of Labor Statistics file of 1997 employment estimates. This lists around 500 occupation groups, and the estimated numbers in each. I thought this might be useful for looking in a town or city to try and find those specialists you are trying to find...

E.g., you are looking for someone who is a proper (pre-war) dentist - this file would say that 7 in 10,000 people would be a dentist, so there should be a few around in somewhere like Krakow. Of course, they may not be practicing as a dentist now...

I also thought this might provoke some discussion about occupations that are still in demand, and those that essentially become extinct. (This will depend on the image of destruction you have for your T2K world, as well as the organization of areas within that world.) Thoughts?

Andrew

[Tombot]

That is interesting, Atiff.
I mentioned somewhere else that people would be bartering with old dentures (yuck!!!) because of that fact, you just stated! Almost no dentists left...
We could expect a lot of "heroes" with questionable looks in terms of fragmentary sets of teeth

Apart from that, these statistics can be helpful to get a more realistic idea, how society would have to change from our industrialized form of technical specialists, back to more "universal" occupations and scholars like in the 19.century.

[atiff]

For the more "universal" occupations idea - I agree. I think a lot of people will end up having to do something 'on the farm' so to speak. My own games assume 1 person in every 2 is involved in farming and food production (which really equates to about 2/3 of the adult population). I think a lot of them will also take any practical hobbies they had and turn them into something to generate income or barter-able skills.

Also, I think a lot of older professions will make a comeback, as energy distribution collapses and machines stop. Things like:
Tanners
Furriers
Leatherworkers
Cobblers
Weavers
Wainrights (wagon makers)
Farriers (guys who do horseshoes)
Loggers with axes
Ploughmen
Icemen (the guys who deliver ice)
etc....

I don't think it will go "Morrow Project" everywhere, but people will do these things to 'get by' if they can't buy, scrounge or otherwise get the 'modern' versions of things they want/need.

[James Langham]

Also bear in mind the casualty rate will be higher in some professions than others as they will be city based.

Excellent resource though, thanks for posting.

[schnickelfritz]

For the last 17 years, I've been a Mechanical Engineer by trade. In my travels, I've found that there are a lot of manufacturing facilities in out of the way places, usually because the county/city/state offered tax breaks. You'd be suprised some times to see a plant making outboard engines in rural Oklahoma, for instance.

While there are manufacturing plants of great size still within metro areas that were devastated by the nukes or riots (Detroit for one), there are a lot in the middle of nowhere West of the Appalachians.

These facilities, no matter what they made originally, would have a goldmine of talent in the maintenance, engineering, tool room, and assembly personnel, especially the first three. Plus, most places I've worked for had local subcontractors, usually machine shops, that would also be highly valuable.

And let us not forget retirees...some went to the warmer states, but most of the retired toolmakers I know are still in the area and still able to pass along their skills....most of them have 30 years' or more of priceless experience creating tools and parts in the pre-cnc area. If you have nowhere to really go and your 60 years old, why would you in the post TDM era?

I used to work at a plant where the tool room had two lathes with 20 foot beds and 18"+ swing, one Monarch, one American, and they worked as well as they ever had, even though both were built in late 1941 according to their serial data plates. They also had a lot of grinders, mills, and lathes that would be hardly affected by EMP.

Mortars, anyone?

[Legbreaker]

This topic has been discussed in previous threads (which I can't track down at the moment) where it was established that the highly skilled and specialised people were more likely to suffer a disproportionate number of casualties due to their locations being prime targets. This isn't to say dispersed facilities would not exist, but, once the nukes flew, many, many people would be heading away from anywhere they felt could be a target, or set out seeking surviving family. This movement could in fact endanger people more than staying in one place and bunkering down.

Also, the elderly, infirm and the young would suffer a high percentage of casualties from disease, famine and all the stresses placed on the population post 1997. Given that retirees tend to be in the elderly age bracket...