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Hot Jobs for the 21 st Century, 2004-2014
- The number of women in the labor force is projected to increase from 68.4 million in 2004 to 75.9 million in 2014--a 10.9 percent increase. The number of men in the labor force is projected to increase from 79.0 million in 2004 to 86.2 million in 2014--a 9.1 percent increase. By 2014, women are projected to account for 47 percent of the total labor force.
- By 2014, women’s labor force participation rate is projected to be 59.7 percent, compared with 59.2 percent in 2004. Men’s labor force participation rate will decrease slightly from 73.3 percent in 2004 to 71.8 percent in 2014.
- In addition to the rise in labor force participants, there will also be increases in total employment over the 2004-2014 period. Total employment is projected to increase by 18.9 million jobs—from 145.6 to 164.5 million jobs.
- The largest employment gains are projected to take place within professional and related occupations (6.0 million jobs) and service occupations (5.3 million jobs). In addition, these two occupational groups are projected to grow the fastest.
- Every major occupational group will experience some amount of job growth except for farming, fishing, and forestry occupations along with production occupations; their projected occupation totals will be reduced by 1.3 and .7 percent, respectively.
- As total employment continues to climb, it is important to be aware of the jobs that will have the fastest growth, the jobs with the largest numerical increases, and the education and training necessary to secure one of these jobs. Fastest job growth refers to the percentage change in employment within a particular occupation over a specific period of time. Numerical job growth refers to the total number of jobs created within an occupation over a specific period of time.
- Sixteen of the 30 jobs with the fastest growth are health related, while 6 are computer related. Most of the remaining fast-growth occupations are in environmental services and education (See Table 1).
- Fast-growth occupations have growth rates of 30 percent or higher, more than twice the average for all occupations—13.0 percent (See Table 1).
- The fastest-growing major occupational group—professional and related occupations—is made up mostly of occupations that generally require postsecondary education or training. Examples of these are physician assistants, network systems and data communication analysts, computer software engineers, database administrators, physical therapists, preschool and postsecondary teachers, and environmental engineers.
- The 30 jobs with the largest numerical growth are from a much broader occupational range than the 30 fastest-growing jobs. Eleven are service orientated, 4 are office and administrative support occupations, 3 are in health care support, 3 are food preparation and serving related, 3 are in building and grounds cleaning and maintenance services, 3 are in teaching, 3 are transportation and material moving occupations, among others (See Table 2).
- Seventeen of the 30 occupations with the largest numerical declines have short-term on-the-job training as their most significant source of postsecondary education or training, 10 have moderate-term on-the-job training, and 3 have long-term on-the-job training.
- Among the top 30 occupations with the largest growth, registered nurses require at least an associate degree; elementary teachers, accountants and auditors, computer software engineers and computer systems analysts usually require a bachelor’s degree; while postsecondary teachers, require a master’s or possibly a doctorate degree.
- Carpenters is the only job requiring long-term on-the-job training, Examples requiring moderate on-the-job training are truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer; medical assistants; general maintenance and repair workers; and executive secretaries and administrative assistants.
- The pay offered by growth occupations should be considered when choosing a job or career. While wage projections by occupations are not available, a look at the median weekly earnings of wage and salary workers who usually work full time in fast-growth and large-growth occupations provides additional job resource information (See Table 3).
- The median weekly earnings of all wage and salary workers who worked full time in 2005 was $651 for both sexes--$585 for women and $722 for men. You may view the 2005 median weekly earnings of all full-time wage and salary workers at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat39.pdf.
- Even though an occupation may be projected to show faster than average growth and/or a large numerical increase, the median weekly earnings of that occupation could be much lower than the average for all workers (See Table 3).
