Career Outlook article page

The fastest growing industry sector, 2023–33: Professional, scientific, and technical services

Elka Torpey | February 2025

Industry data tell us a lot about jobs. We can learn about what types of employers there are, how employment is expected to change, and which occupations in an industry have the highest pay.

Look to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for all these data and more. The five charts that follow offer a snapshot of job outlook and wages in professional, scientific, and technical services, the industry sector that BLS projects will have the fastest employment growth over the 2023–33 decade.

Industry employment growth

From 2023 to 2033, employment in professional, scientific, and technical services is projected to increase by 10.5 percent, more than double the 4.2-percent growth rate BLS projects for total wage and salary employment. This industry sector includes establishments that provide expertise in accounting, research, information technology (IT), and many other fields.

Computer systems design and related services is projected to have the fastest employment growth of industries in this sector, increasing by 19.5 percent from 2023 to 2033. (See chart 1.) Heightened demand for workers in this industry is expected due to outsourcing of IT functions to specialized firms, increased cybersecurity needs, and continued adoption of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Employment in other professional, scientific, and technical services, the second-fastest growing industry in chart 1, is projected to increase by 14.9 percent over the 2023–33 decade. Much of this growth is expected to come from veterinary services as spending on pet care continues to rise.

Fastest growing occupations

In each of the fastest growing occupations in professional, scientific, and technical services, employment growth is projected to be at least twice as fast as the average for all occupations within the sector. (See chart 2.)

With an increase of nearly 42 percent over the 2023–33 decade, data scientists is the occupation projected to have the fastest employment growth in professional, scientific, and technical services. More workers are expected to be needed in this occupation to help analyze and use large amounts of data and information. Other math occupations in the chart include operations research analysts and actuaries, which are projected to have employment growth of 30.2 and 28.7 percent in the industry, respectively, from 2023 to 2033.

Most new jobs

Fast growth is just one way to look at the job outlook for occupations. Another way is to consider the number of new jobs expected. More new jobs may mean better prospects for people entering an occupation. Chart 3 shows the occupations projected to add the most jobs in professional, scientific, and technical services from 2023 to 2033.

Software developers stands out among the occupations in chart 3 for having the largest employment (713,700) in the professional, scientific, and technical services industry in 2023 and the most new jobs projected (163,500) in the industry through 2033. New opportunities are expected for these workers to help design and update computer software for an expanding number of products and applications.  

Occupational share

When considering careers, it also may be useful to know what type of work is concentrated in an industry. Chart 4 shows the occupations with the highest share of their employment in the professional, scientific, and technical services sector.

The occupations in chart 4 are primarily in three fields: veterinary services, architecture and surveying, and legal services. As the chart shows, nearly all veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers (92 percent) and veterinary technologists and technicians (91 percent) were employed in professional, scientific, and technical services in 2023.

High wages

Along with offering opportunities, careers in professional, scientific, and technical services also tend to pay well. Occupations in this sector had a median annual wage of $80,850 in 2023, which is substantially above the $48,060 median wage across all industries.

As in most industries, managers in the professional, scientific, and technical services industry are usually among the highest paid occupations. But many nonmanagerial occupations also have wages above the median. Chart 5 shows some of these well-paying occupations.

Physicists, with a median annual wage in the industry of $171,670 in 2023, tops the occupations shown in chart 5. Occupations related to computers and engineering also are prominent, along with lawyers ($142,150) and economists ($124,860).

Wages that are higher than the median reflect the levels of education and experience that workers in professional, scientific, and technical services typically need. Most of the top-paying occupations in professional, scientific, and technical services require at least a bachelor’s degree, and some require a graduate degree or work experience in a related occupation.

For more information

Visit the BLS Employment Projections (EP) program online for industry and occupational projections data. In addition to projections, EP develops information on other topics as well, such as education and training and skills data by detailed occupation. 

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program has additional information about wages, including detailed occupational wages by industry. 

Learn more about the occupations in this article and hundreds of others in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). The OOH describes what workers do, where they work, their wages, job outlook, and more.