The Top 25 Jobs in America

The American labor market is changing overall, very quickly and dramatically.

It is changing with the addition of new jobs developed every year in the rise of new industries never before imagined in this country. Further, many old American jobs every year are either eliminated, filled by immigrants, or outsourced overseas. For instance, our state's employment indexes for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation and other departments still list "Elevator Operator" as a real job that people can still do, sitting down (if partially disabled) or standing up. However, we have not had any elevator operators in our city since the late 1960s.

In addition, the Guest Worker Program or various versions of it, is allowing migrant workers to enter the United States to earn money to send back home to their families and/or to support themselves here in a better life than they would have at home.

There is a lot of controversy about this last situation, with opposing sides arguing that America should either 1) allow all immigrants into the Land of the Free just as our ancestors were permitted in so that they could find work and a new, free life, or 2) prohibit most immigration because there may no longer be enough room and resources in America to accept these individuals on top of our 300,000,000 residents, increasing every day. The second choice also is about not allowing in terrorists. However, no matter which side you may support, the fact is that immigrants are continuing to enter America and accept work, and this is changing the labor market in the US.

Another interesting situation is that the Baby Boomers are retiring and, as a result, there are statistically not enough younger people to fill their vacant jobs. This is good news to those individuals that were laid off recently at the age of 50 or 55 and still have 10-15 years to work before qualifying for Social Security and company retirement benefits. In addition, there are rumors that Social Security will not be in force when these 50-somethings retire, anyway. Some economists believe that there are not enough younger people working to contribute enough into the Social Security system to support the Baby Boomers when they are all retired. What is known, however, is that the retirement age is increasing gradually above 65 for full benefits and is now around 67.

Another compounding circumstance is that many older, retired people still need to work in order to make ends meet or they still want to work in order to maintain their independence and healthy outlook. This will result in older individuals living even longer, because working is keeping them healthier and providing them an income with which to afford better food, some companionship and interaction with others, and possibly some better health care and living conditions.

All of these situations combine to exert more pressure on the American economy to have jobs available to more people in a wider age range, say 14 - 80+ years of age.

An estimate by the US Department of Labor shows that these following 25 jobs will be the fastest growing occupations in America between 2004 and 2014.

(Job Title, Percent Increase in number of Jobs from 2004 to 2014, and Education & Training Needed)

1 Home health aides 56% Vocational certificate /On-The-Job training

2 Network systems and data communications analysts 55% Bachelor's degree

3 Medical assistants 52% Vocational certificate /OJT

4 Physician assistants 50% Bachelor's degree

5 Computer software engineers, applications 48% Bachelor's degree

6 Physical therapy assistants 44% Associate degree

7 Dental hygienists 43% Associate degree

8 Computer software engineers,systems software 43% Bachelor's degree

9 Dental assistants 43% Vocational certificate /OJT

10 Personal/ home care aides 41% Vocational certificate /OJT

11 Network and computer systems administrators 38% Bachelor's degree

12 Database administrators 38% Bachelor's degree

13 Physical therapists 37% Master's degree

14 Forensic science technicians 36% Associate degree

15 Veterinary technologists and technicians 35% Associate degree

16 Diagnostic medical sonographers 35% Associate degree

17 Physical therapy aides 34% OJT

18 Occupational therapist assistants 34% Associate degree

19 Medical scientists, except epidemiologists 34% Doctoral degree

20 Occupational therapists 34% Master's degree

21 Preschool teachers, except special education 33% Postsecondary/vocational

22 Cardiovascular technologists and technicians 33% Associate degree

23 Postsecondary teachers 32% Doctoral degree

24 Hydrologists 32% Master's degree

(works with clean water resources for humans and livestock)

25 Computer systems analysts 31% Bachelor's degree

You can see from this Top 25 list that these fastest-growing jobs in America are all in medicine and health-related areas, computers and technologies, sciences, and education. Many of the computer and technology jobs opening up today and in the future are, themselves, also connected to health and medicine, especially in bioengineering and researching the possibilities for living in space (aerospace medicine and technologies).

While some of these Top 25 Jobs require an advanced education degree, many need a less-intensive Associate degree or On the Job Training. One in such a job, a worker can often benefit from their employer's professional development program and take advantage of Tuition Reimbursement and other programs. IN this way, they can work themselves up to a Bachelor's degree and even a Master's degree and higher-level Professional degrees and experience increases in income and related responsibilities as they proceed.

Any of these Top 25 Fastest-Growing American Jobs can lead to a satisfying, productive, and lucrative career.

Hydrology offers the 24th fastest growing job area in terms of the most jobs opening up in America between 2004 to 2014. Not widely known overall by today's employee pool, the following are some of the most important tasks of the hydrologist, espeically in light of the post-Katrina disaster in New Orleans, Mississippi and other southern states:

• Determining the water balance of a region;
• Designing riparian restoration projects;
• Mitigating and predicting flood, landslide, and drought risks;
• Designing irrigation systems and managing agricultural productivity;
• Creating a hazard module in catastrophe modeling;
• Providing clean drinking water for people and animals;
• Designing dams for water supply and hydroelectric power;
• Designing bridges;
• Designing and improving sewers and urban drainage systems;
• Predicting erosion or sedimentation;
• Assessing contaminant transport risk;
• Establishing environmental policy guidelines.