*Source: Occupational Employment Statistics Program, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As the service sector continues to be the driving force behind the U.S. economy it begs the question what will future service jobs look like? In response to this the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) created the Employment Projection series which forecasts employment change from 2012-2022; more specifically it provides information on employment change, job gains, job losses, wages, training and educational requirements. The chart above lists the top 14 occupations by percent change from 2012-2022. According to the BLS the percent change in employment measures the projected rate of change of employment in an occupation. However, it is important to keep in mind that the percent change in employment is not always a perfect predictor of future job gains. Why? Because a small percent change in a larger industry can equate to more job gains than a high percent change in a smaller industry. To account for this it is important to consider the total number of jobs gains along with the percent change. This information is captured in the graph below which lists the top 14 Occupations ranked by the number of projected job gains from 2012-2022.
*Source: Occupational Employment Statistics Program, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.