How To Find The Fastest Growing Careers and Highest Paying Jobs

Keeping up with the fastest growing careers and highest paying jobs is a great way to stay ahead of the employment curve when preparing for a new career or any change in employment. It can also prove quite useful when gauging the outlook for your current career.

It is important to understand whether a field has high growth potential, since high growth often translates into improved career advancement opportunities and higher pay over the long term. Fortunately, this information is not difficult to find, as the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes online data regarding the fastest growing careers over the coming decade and the pay range associated with these fast growing careers. Outside of the United States, other government agencies may publish similar data. At the very least, the data published by the United States Department of Labor can be utilized by anyone around the world as a general gauge regarding employment conditions in various fields of employment.

The Department of Labor researched career growth trends and prepared a list of careers that are likely to experience the most growth over the coming decade. Their findings are presented in an online table called "Occupation Finder" and broken out into the following fields (columns): Occupation, Entry Level Education, On-The-Job Training, Project Number of New Jobs, Project Growth Rates, and 2010 Medium Pay (which is just a guideline, as pay rates can vary considerably in different regions and over time).

What really makes the Department of Labor Occupation Finder online table useful is that you can sort the data presented in many different ways based on your needs. To focus on jobs that you are qualified for and are interested in due to their growth rate, you can sort be Entry Level Education and Projected Growth Rate to target jobs that include your education level and have the growth rate you are seeking. To find the highest paying jobs, you can sort by 2010 Median Pay to get an idea regarding which jobs are higher paying than others. Sorting by Projected Number of New Jobs provides greater clarity regarding which careers will likely have the most job openings in the coming decade, as the projected growth rate is a relative figure that can include careers with few job opportunities, but are expected to grow rapidly. For example, a career may have a 29 Percent or Faster growth rate projection according to the Projected Growth Rate column, but only include 0 to 999 projected new jobs per the Projected Number of New Jobs column. When comparing this information to a career that has a 29 Percent or Faster growth rate projection and 50,000 or More projected new jobs, it is easy to discern which career will have more job opportunities over the coming decade and may be the better one to pursue. The On The Job Training column provides useful information regarding careers that typically provide training to new employees. Careers with on the job training or apprenticeships may be easier to get started in for new job seekers or those looking to make a career change, than careers that require prior experience.

Another useful resource is The Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), which provides information about what occupations entail, including: working conditions; education, training, and other qualifications; pay; job outlook; similar occupations; and sources of additional information. This information can be quite useful to both initial job seekers and those looking to make a career change, as it not only provides information about various occupations, but can also be used to search for the fastest growing careers and highest paying jobs. If you cannot find the career that interests you in the in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, an alphabetical index and search engine are provided that allow you to look up specific occupations. Another useful resource that the Department of Labor provides to job seekers and those considering a career change is the Occupational Outlook Quarterly, which includes articles about occupations and careers that are not included in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH).

Pursuing a career for the first time or making a career change is never an easy task, especially since decisions that are made can have lasting effects over a lifetime. Although subject to change over time, it is helpful to use online resources like those provided by The Department of Labor to keep abreast of the fastest growing careers and highest paying jobs in the current work environment.