Careers Headed For the Trash Pile

Technology has undoubtedly put postal service mail sorters on the chopping block. Afterwards losing nearly 57,000 jobs between 2004 and 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a furthermore 30% decline in this occupation by 2018.

According to jobs researcher and author of "2011 Career Plan," Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., this occupation has seen some erosion from increased communication via phone, e-mail and cloud computing. But the chief reason for the decline, Shatkin says, is that mail sorting has become on the whole automated, and robots are replacing people.

"Word processing, voicemail and the Internet make it easier for skilled professionals to do [clerical work] themselves," says Holzer. "Employers are pursuant to this agreement pressure. If they can do this work more efficiently, they will."

Advanced research has wiped out many other jobs that will before long conjure only nostalgia. It seems that Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" has become a reality. With the rise of television and Internet marketing, door-to-door sales jobs contracted by 40% in the last five years for which data is available, and telemarketer positions declined by 25%.

In some cases, market and innovation changes simply speed up an occupation's decline once it goes out of fashion, Shatkin says. Stage performers -- a category that includes magicians, jugglers, clowns and dancers -- suffered a steep five-year decline of 61%. Increased interest in movies and home entertainment technologies, including video games, he says, has decreased the demand for live performances.