What Industries are Hiring the Most Workers?

From working with industrial data, including Federal and State employment projections (forecasts) and actual job listings and employment trends to be found, I find the top manpower requirements to be evident in the following industries from 2009 - 2017.

1. Healthcare Industry: Physical therapists, occupational therapists, physicians and specialists, Nurses: RNs, LPNs, LVNs; nursing aides, healthcare support.
2. Education: Teachers, teaching assistants, school lunch programs, others.
3. Construction and Infrastructure/Industrial Arts: US National Guard jobs in many states, transportation media, bridges, and roads; new "green" commercial and residential buildings, "green" rehabilitation of current buildings (especially in urban areas); others. This industry cluster was supported by the new presidential administration in 2017 as well.
4. Energy: For example, read about Green Oil, made from algae, at Hot Jobs in Santa Fe. Many sources of alternative energy and fuels are targeted from development and new job creation across the USA. Oil and Natural Gas jobs are booming in North Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and are expected to be in high demand at least through 2020.
5. Child Care: Helps parents and other caretakers maintain employment.

When we speak of industry or industries, we as readers and listeners often envision an industrial complex like an automobile manufacturing plant, a steel producing factory, or even a plastics factory like that shown on TV's early Rosanne show, set near Chicago. We might think of steel workers and automakers.

Agricultural industries exist as well, including meat packing and slaughter houses, vegetable processing, and other crop and animal processing operations. Timber cutting and processing is also an industry, just as textile manufacturing and coal mining are industries. In fact, any sort of work is known as part of a specific industry to the US Federal Government's Department of Labor.

Healthcare is an industry as well, and also called part of the larger Service Industry. Information Technology (IT) is an industry. Education is an industry.

In 21st Century America, service industries are increasing in type, use, demand, and numbers; while some other industries are declining. Top industries in America that demand the highest numbers of workers (manpower) may not be those expected by the American public and American workers.

Construction and Industrial Arts are important in the Top 5 Industries in America requiring the most manpower in the 2010s.

From 2009 - 2014, the job of physical therapist was the job most often listed in online job search engines. From 2014 - 2017, truck driving supplanted physical therapists for number one billing in want ads.

This job is included in the Healthcare Industry, making Healthcare the single American industry requiring the most manpower. While needed in many US States, physical therapists are in greatest demand in Texas, in its largest cities but also in its smaller towns.

The ARRA Stimulus-related projects opened construction jobs and related occupations like engineers, supervisors, estimators, technicians, etc. - on projects involving highways, bridges, railroads, and buildings (especially in revitalizing urban areas for future growth).

Education and child care positions also increased under the ARRA and continued to increase afterward. Energy-related jobs definitely increased during the 2010s, with "wind turbine technician" becoming the job most likely to increase numbers of advertised positions from 2017 - 2025. Other related jobs in energy include a variety of engineers, technicians, and related occupational titles.

The Stimulus jobs created 2009 - 2012 that most resemble the popular concept of hard working industry will be those in Infrastructure/ Construction, and Energy. The jobs continued to grow in many US States after 2012 through 2016.

Especially in the construction trades, design arts and industrial arts are quite evident when we look at bridge and building design. They are also clearly visible in planned communities, differing styles of architecture, materials and combinations, computer design (CAD/CAM, etc.), landscaping, metal work, ornamental iron, friezes, ornamental plastering, sculptures, public art works, and dozens of other categories.

The leading construction-type jobs at this time include the following list gathered from Internet job search engines and employer websites, all crawled by Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com on a continual basis.

High Demand Construction Jobs of the 2010s:

1. Part-Time Sales and Support in industrial parts, tools, and supplies
2. Project Managers: Construction related.
3. Heavy Construction Equipment Operators
4. Indirect Fire Infantrymen
5. Operations Intelligence Apprentices
6. Combat Engineers, US Military
7. Railway Operations Crew Members, US Military
8. Builders, Us Military
9. Carpentry & Masonry Specialists
10. Electrical Engineers
11. SERE - "Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape" Instructors
12. Construction: Truck Drivers
13. Carpenters
14. Electricians
15. Systems Engineers
16. Engineering Technicians
17. Trades Helpers - Carpenter helpers and others

Shale oil and natural gas discovery and extraction reached a peak in 4th QTR 2011 and 1st QTR 2012 and plateaued, because some of the states involved did not have enough placed to live to house all the workers needed.

Some states had asked for help from the US Federal Government back in 2010 to accommodate oilfield workers with additional living spaces, but the help was slow.

Texas leaders demand the Keystone Pipeline to open additional jobs, states like North Dakota already have the energy jobs and need housing.