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Share of women in occupations with many projected openings, 2016–26

Domingo Angeles | March 2018

Women predominate in many of the occupations that are projected to have high levels of openings over the 2016–26 decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The chart shows the 20 occupations that are projected to have the most openings each year, on average, for all workers over the 2016–26 decade. And 13 of these occupations employed more women than men in 2016.

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Shares of women and men employed, 2016, in occupations with the most projected annual openings, on average, 2016–26
Occupation	Women's share of employment, 2016	Men's share of employment, 2016	Occupational openings, projected 2016–26 annual average	Education typically needed for entry	Training typically needed to attain competency
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive⁽¹⁾	94.6%	5.4%	244,300	High school diploma or equivalent	Short-term on-the-job training
Childcare workers	94.4%	5.6%	189,100	High school diploma or equivalent	Short-term on-the-job training
Registered nurses	90.0%	10.0%	203,700	Bachelor's degree	None
Maids and housekeeping cleaners	89.6%	10.4%	202,000	No formal educational credential	Short-term on-the-job training
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	88.5%	11.5%	186,400	Some college, no degree	Moderate-term on-the-job training
Nursing assistants⁽¹⁾	88.1%	11.9%	195,100	Postsecondary nondegree award	None
Home health aides⁽¹⁾	88.1%	11.9%	168,600	High school diploma or equivalent	Short-term on-the-job training
Personal care aides	84.9%	15.1%	414,300	High school diploma or equivalent	Short-term on-the-job training
Office clerks, general	82.8%	17.2%	356,200	High school diploma or equivalent	Short-term on-the-job training
Cashiers	73.2%	26.8%	653,700	No formal educational credential	Short-term on-the-job training
Waiters and waitresses	70.0%	30.0%	522,700	No formal educational credential	Short-term on-the-job training
Customer service representatives	65.0%	35.0%	373,500	High school diploma or equivalent	Short-term on-the-job training
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food	63.5%	36.5%	736,000	No formal educational credential	Short-term on-the-job training
Retail salespersons	48.4%	51.6%	670,300	No formal educational credential	Short-term on-the-job training
Cooks, restaurant⁽¹⁾,⁽²⁾	38.7%	61.3%	195,300	No formal educational credential	Moderate-term on-the-job training
Stock clerks and order fillers	37.0%	63.0%	269,200	High school diploma or equivalent	Short-term on-the-job training
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners⁽¹⁾	34.2%	65.8%	344,100	No formal educational credential	Short-term on-the-job training
General and operations managers⁽³⁾	29.8%	70.2%	210,700	Bachelor's degree	None
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	18.1%	81.9%	388,400	No formal educational credential	Short-term on-the-job training
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers⁽¹⁾	6.0%	94.0%	213,500	Postsecondary nondegree award	Short-term on-the-job training
Footnotes: ⁽¹⁾ Women's share of employment in this detailed occupation may not be representative of their share in the broad occupation for which data are collected by gender. ⁽²⁾ This occupation typically requires less than 5 years of work experience in a related occupation to enter. ⁽³⁾ This occupation typically requires 5 years or more of work experience in a related occupation to enter. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (employment shares) and Office of Employment Projections (openings, education, and training). For occupation titles shown in the chart, this crosswalk provides equivalents from the Current Population Survey for National Employment Matrix/Standard Occupation Classification system detailed occupations.

Projected openings are not specific to gender. Openings for all workers in an occupation arise from employment growth and when workers retire, transfer to another occupation, or leave for some other reason. Most of the openings in the occupations shown in the chart are projected to arise from workers who leave the occupation permanently, rather than from job growth.

BLS also has information about the education typically required to enter an occupation and the training needed to attain competency in the occupation. Hover over a bar in the chart to see those details, along with the projected openings data.

Data on shares of workers by gender are from the BLS Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of households that collects information about demographic and labor force characteristics. Data on projected occupational openings and typical entry-level education come from the BLS Office of Employment Projections.

Domingo Angeles is an economist in the Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections, BLS. He can be reached at angeles.domingo@bls.gov

Suggested citation:

Domingo Angeles, "Share of women in occupations with many projected openings, 2016–26," Career Outlook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2018.

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Career Outlook article page

Data on displayShare of women in occupations with many projected openings, 2016–26

Data on display
Share of women in occupations with many projected openings, 2016–26