A Growing Industry

Communication is a growing industry. Sine World War II, for instance, the number of professional communication or public relations practitioners in our country has grown to over 160,000. Additionally, over 250 colleges and universities within the United States offer a sequence or degree program in public relations. These statistics alone suggest the increased importance our society is placing on communication. Not only do we want more skilled professionals in this profession, but we need them. It is no longer enough for a person to be merely good at what he or she does. For instance, we all want a good general physician in our corner to help us deal with day-to-day illness or injuries that may come up. But just as importantly, we now want that same professional to be to be good at communicating information that we need to know in ways we understand and in a manner that helps make us feel cared for.

At the same time, our friends in the corporate world want communicators who can present their products in a way that helps establish long-term connections between them and their customers. Who better to make this happen than a communicator who can not only package a product properly but can also help establish a meaningful bridge between a corporate entity and its publics? And let us not forget our federal government that is currently trying to help the citizenry understand and cope with the economic crisis before us. It, too, needs good communicators who can do this as well as generate support for the solutions to this crisis that the government is in the process of developing.

It is no coincidence, then, that the communication industry is growing. Communication matters because without it the link between today and tomorrow, a sense of aloneness and a sense of belonging, a sense of hopelessness and one of hope, a sense of aimlessness and one of purpose will not be made. In today's world, communication matters a lot. In the world of tomorrow, it will be essential.