Anybody have an idea how many people are employed worldwide directly
as forecasters? My guess is 200-400k

I just need a ball park figure to use in a talk.......

On Mar 11, 7:47*pm, Pete L wrote:
Anybody have an idea how many people are employed worldwide directly
as forecasters? My guess is 200-400k

I just need a ball park figure to use in a talk.......

5 or 6.

In article
,
Pete L writes:
Anybody have an idea how many people are employed worldwide directly
as forecasters? My guess is 200-400k

I just need a ball park figure to use in a talk.......

I was wondering how you arrived at that figure. Depending a bit on your
definition of "forecaster", I would have thought that the number in the
UK would only be in the hundreds rather than the thousands. There are of
the order of a couple of hundred countries in the world, but the less
developed ones are likely to have comparatively few forecasters. OTOH,
the US - in particular - will have a lot more than the UK. My own guess
for the worldwide figure would be in the region of 50k, but I wouldn't
be surprised if that turned out to be an overestimate.
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

On Mar 11, 7:47*pm, Pete L wrote:
Anybody have an idea how many people are employed worldwide directly
as forecasters? My guess is 200-400k

I just need a ball park figure to use in a talk.......

What a difficult question. 1800 are employed by the MetO:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporat...worktypes.html

but many of those will be in support services to the forecasting.
There are, of course, other forecasting agencies in the UK. In the
USA, 34% of atmospheric scientists are employed by the govenment,
which equates to 9,400 people:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos051.htm#outlook

That would equate to about 30,000 scientists in all, but how many are
forecasters? If John's estimates for the UK are coprrect - and I see
no reason why they shouldn't be - maybe 10,000 forecasters?

Slide 20 in this presentation gives about 15000 working in the 10
major countries, but these are National Met Office employees and
again, it looks like everyone is included, not just forecasters, as
the MetO figures above tie in reasonable well. (Maybe some good info
for your talk though).

http://www.ofcm.gov/sai/presentation...p_weiss.ppt#20

As a result, I think John's estimate is reasonable, though like him, I
think it may be an overestimate.

On 12 Mar, 10:19, Dawlish wrote:
On Mar 11, 7:47*pm, Pete L wrote:

Anybody have an idea how many people are employed worldwide directly
as forecasters? My guess is 200-400k

I just need a ball park figure to use in a talk.......

What a difficult question. 1800 are employed by the MetO:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporat...worktypes.html

but many of those will be in support services to the forecasting.
There are, of course, other forecasting agencies in the UK. In the
USA, 34% of atmospheric scientists are employed by the govenment,
which equates to 9,400 people:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos051.htm#outlook

That would equate to about 30,000 scientists in all, but how many are
forecasters? If John's estimates for the UK are coprrect - and I see
no reason why they shouldn't be - maybe 10,000 forecasters?

Slide 20 in this presentation gives about 15000 working in the 10
major countries, but these are National Met Office employees and
again, it looks like everyone is included, not just forecasters, as
the MetO figures above tie in reasonable well. (Maybe some good info
for your talk though).

http://www.ofcm.gov/sai/presentation...p_weiss.ppt#20

As a result, I think John's estimate is reasonable, though like him, I
think it may be an overestimate.

Thanks guys. Yes, I think I'm way over in my estimate. I would think
in UK Met there are probably only about 400-500 active forecasters. I
think I'll say 10-20 thousand....

On 12 Mar, 10:23, Pete L wrote:
On 12 Mar, 10:19, Dawlish wrote:
On Mar 11, 7:47*pm, Pete L wrote:

My guess is 200-400k

I just need a ball park figure to use in a talk.......

1800 are employed by the MetO:

which equates to 9,400 people:

That would equate to about 30,000 scientists in all,
maybe 10,000 forecasters?

about 15000 working in the major countries,

I would think in UK Met there are probably only about 400-500
active forecasters.
I think I'll say 10-20 thousand.

Is this a talk to be given in an east coast University?
Somewhere near the fens perhaps.

Not Cambridge I take it?

You are either a 15 year old not doing his homework well or a senior
scientist working at the CRU.

Or both as the case may be.