What Are The Fastest Growing Occupations In America?
I’ve written on numerous occasions about the future of work and how new technologies will impact it. The labor force is a constantly changing and evolving entity, with expanding and shrinking parts driven by societal and technological changes.
If I were a young person in college I would just want to know what industries are predicted to expand. Logically that’s where the jobs will be. Lucky for you I’m a fan of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the reams and reams of nerdy data they provide.
What is the BLS and their mission?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a division of the U.S. Department of Labor full of geeks and statistics dorks who provide data and analysis about virtually everything related to labor markets and U.S. economy. Ok, that’s not cut and paste from their website, especially the geeks and dorks part.
Their official mission statement reads:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision making.
They even have a short, spiffy, and kinda hip video that explains what they do. I work for the Federal Government and trust me, creating anything fun like this about your job flies directly in the face of the government work ethos. So kudos to them!
So in short BLS data are the gold standard for analyzing and tracking virtually anything related to the labor markets and economy in America. I’ve used their data in many posts on my site before and will continue to do so.
Where The Jobs Will Be
One of the problems with BLS data is that they provide so much of it. Their data reservoir seems endless, and hard to make sense of. That’s why I’m delighted that they’ve increasingly been doing some great analysis for us and crunching complex datasets to show easy to understand patterns and trends.
That said, I found a few future employment trend graphics on their site that are well worth discussing and extremely relevant to those seeking financial independence, or future employment for that matter.
What are the 10 fastest growing occupations in America? (oh man, it’s almost like I’m doing a listicle post, please forgive me…)
Well there you have it. Six of them are related to heathcare, and five of them pay a median annual salary well over the U.S. median which is currently around $63,000.
Under The Hood
Regarding the healthcare jobs that are growing, Purdue University issued this great report, citing this very BLS data. One of the main factors driving this trend is the epidemic of chronic health conditions, mostly driven by poor lifestyle choices. I’ve written about this before, and these conditions account for about 75% of healthcare costs in America.
Regarding the skills necessary for these future healthcare jobs, the end of the Purdue report says:
A shifting labor market means automation is taking over more routine and manual tasks, placing a greater demand on jobs that humans excel at and are required for, including non-routine interpersonal and analytical jobs. Because health care-related jobs often require personal interaction, they are more difficult to outsource or replace with automation. This means developing your soft skills is more important than ever.
I also posted about this very issue, man I’m on my game 🙂 Despite the “STEM jobs will be king” drumbeat we’ve been hearing from every corner of society recently, I believe as do the folks at Purdue that a solid liberal arts education with a decent understanding of the basics of technology will rule the day in the future.
You may be as surprised as I was in seeing this list not dominated by tech-related fields. Information security analysts is the most pure-tech occupation on the list, but I would have expected more IT type jobs.
Notice that statisticians is one of the ten on the list. Could that be the BLS statisticians just inserting some wishful thinking? 🙂
Growing Industries
Another graphic I found on the BLS website shows a list of the fastest growing industries by rate of annual change for 2018 – 2028. This is industries, not occupations, so they are broader categories.
The red vertical dashed line that marks .5% is the projected annual growth rate of all non-agricultural jobs for this time period. So that serves as a marker as to which industries the BLS sees growing faster or slower than the average.
Of particular note to me was the second fastest growing industry, “educational services, private”. I’m of the opinion that the COVID-19 crisis will be the turning point for how America views education across the board.
Whether it be homeschooling young kids or rethinking the absurdity of the current “college industrial complex” that has resulted in more than 1.5 Trillion with a “T” debt in America, I see major changes coming to education. And the BLS projections are showing that.
Also notice “Federal Government” at the bottom, with -0.5% growth. I already went part time and will fully separate at some point, probably in the not too terribly distant future. Thanks, I’ll see myself out and I don’t care if the door hits me or not 🙂
Conclusion
Remember the famous scene from “The Graduate”, when the guy tells Dustin Hoffman to go into plastics?
Well it wouldn’t quite have the same pithy ring if he said “I have three words for you: solar photovoltaic installer“. But according to the BLS that will be the single fastest growing occupation in America through 2018.
To be honest I have my doubts, from my personal experience solar technology hasn’t advanced nearly as fast as it should have by now. But I will remain optimistic and certainly hope that by 2028 I’ll have a house fully powered by the sun.
Your turn readers – Are you currently employed in one of these fastest growing occupations or industries? If you aren’t, would you consider switching to one to take advantage of it’s growth?
i’m glad i likely don’t “need” to switch. the pay scale for some of those growing jobs is terrible. even 44k for a solar installer? the people at the power plant and gas company are making 100k. better to be a trade apprentice and an electrician or plumber.
I agree that $44k for solar installer isn’t all that great, but let’s face it, it’s not a super high-skilled job. In my area I’d be willing to bet that 80% or more of them would be immigrants with little or no education, both legal and illegal. They’re hard workers for sure but the job isn’t that much different than a roofer in many ways, with all the danger. In general higher skills create a higher barrier to entry and higher pay. That said, my agency starts college educated kids around that salary, and you can live on it down here, but you’d have to buck all the trends of society and be frugal.
Very interesting. As a former HR exec for a Fortune 500 healthcare organization, I am aware of massive skill deficit in the jobs above. When I left 2 years ago, there was already a labor shortage and it was growing rapidly. With the “Silver Wave” upon us, growing demand will certainly continue to outstrip the supply. That’s happy news for those who are interested in healthcare. Pretty much a guaranteed employment situation if there ever was one.
Wow, very cool to hear that backed up by an exec who was in the industry. I have no healthcare industry expertise at all but to me it just makes common sense. Demographically the Boomers are enormous, and they’re also the first generation of significantly obese people with all of the chronic conditions that come along with it.
Thanks for sharing some more fun stats to go through. Glad to see BLS doing more with their data, and even a fun video! Heh.
It’s probably not a big surprise to see that solar PV growth, though I’m wondering how much that has been driven by credits/stimulus that have been slowly dying. We’ll need more time to see how much of an effect losing those has on the industry more generally. While it’s had huge growth, I might be leery about starting into that industry working under the assumption of the same future growth. Presumably, it’ll still be a big grower – but might slow down.
It’ll be really interesting to see what happens with those healthcare jobs and the industry in the age of the pandemic. In a few years, we may be looking back on a very different set of numbers.
That’s a great point about the tax credits possibly skewing the solar demand. Americans behave very hypocritically – they say they believe in climate change but keep increasingly buying less efficient SUVs and bigger houses. And drive a quarter mile to the 7-11 when they could ride a bike or walk. So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if many are going solar only for the $$ benefit and don’t really care about the fossil fuel issue, even though they say they do.
Not in any of these industries. The only change I’m planning on making from here is to the beach. So I guess lifeguard it is. Baywatch, here I come 🙂
Awesome, I’ve always wanted one of those little red plastic bouys!
Excellent information Dave!
I’m surprised there’s no mention of small business – you know, the backbone of the economy. I know if I were young and starting afresh, I would start my own business as opposed to getting a job. Of course, the health care field might be the best opportunity.
Great point, but I think the BLS explicitly studies jobs and careers, not entrepreneurship per se. But to your point, if you could find a way to start a business in the healthcare industry then you get the best of both.
I’m surprised STEM careers don’t show up on the list more. Maybe a lot of that will be outsourced?
We’ll have to revisit this topic again when our son is a bit older. Healthcare is a great field to get into.
I was super-surprised. Maybe they’ve already grown so much it’s skewed the projections? BUt the healthcare stuff makes total sense, we’re just so darn unhealthy as a country and getting worse all the time.