"projected increase"

The whole sentence is, 'From 1981 to 1995, there is a projected increase in the number of workers in which of the following categories?'

What does the word 'projected' mean here?
Thanks

I think projected is an adjective here, which means "Extending out above or beyond a surface or boundary". we can understand it clearly by the use of projection in geometry.
Thus, the sentence means
"From 1981 to 1995, in which of the following categories, the number of workers increased (may be beyond a given number)?"

silverpixie said:

The whole sentence is, 'From 1981 to 1995, there is a projected increase in the number of workers in which of the following categories?'

What does the word 'projected' mean here?
Thanks

I would find this a very strange way of talking about the past. It would be a common way of talking if we were in 1978, say, and looking about projections of workers in different economic categories for the years 1981 to 1995.

Even capitalist countries have had flirtations with economic plans, which make extrapolations (extending what is happening now into the future) of present trends into the future, to try to see if there may be shortfalls of various resources which might cause problems of production. Obviously in planned economies this process is more extensive and more important.

Projected in this sense is likely to mean estimated into the future on a basis of detailed extrapolation of present trends. I hope you don't find the definition more difficult to understand than the original word.