Shortage Means Opportunity

STUDY SHOWS GROWING COURT REPORTER DEMAND AND INADEQUATE SUPPLY

A study commissioned by the National Court Reporters Association in 2013 (the Ducker Report) reached two significant conclusions:

  1. Demand for stenographic court reporters would substantially outpace supply within five years as many reporters retire and too few newcomers enter the field.
  2. Ducker’s startling prediction: A shortage of 5,500 reporters by 2018.

SUPPLY/DEMAND IMBALANCE MEANS UNPARALLELED OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW REPORTERS

The marketplace has spoken.  Stenographic reporters and captioners are in demand, increasing by the day, because we provide the state-of-the-art services that no alternative voice-capture method can match. Stenographic reporters are in demand in the vast and growing freelance market.  Stenographic reporters are in demand in courts across the nation.  Steno captioners are in demand as broadcast captioners and CART providers. (watch TV news segment)

These are facts. If voice-recording technologies were the answer, they would have replaced us 50 years ago. But they haven’t. Because they aren’t good enough. The inadequacies of voice-recording are well documented. The superiority of stenographic reporting is unchallenged.

Too much work, not enough reporters. Wow! That’s a dynamic that can work to your benefit. It means there will be a job waiting for you when you graduate from school. It means high earnings will be in prospect right from the start. And long term it means a viable, well-paid career for you.

THE SHORTAGE PUTS YOU IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Where do you want to live? What are your income goals? Do you want to travel the country or the world? Would you prefer to work from home?  Few professions provide so many options.  What fits your lifestyle?  A career in court reporting/captioning offers the opportunity of a work-life balance that’s hard to find in today’s fast-paced world.

Employers – small local agencies, large national firms, courts, captioning companies – are feeling the pinch.  The problem is too few stenographic professionals to satisfy demand.  The solution?  That’s where you come in.