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Employment is projected to grow from 162.8 million to 168.8 million over the 2019–29 decade, an increase of 6.0 million jobs. This reflects an annual growth rate of 0.4 percent, slower than the 2009–19 annual growth rate of 1.3 percent.
Five out of the 20 industries projected to grow the fastest from 2019 to 2029 are in healthcare and social assistance, the fastest growing industry in the economy. Factors that are expected to contribute to the large increase include increased demand from caring for the aging baby-boom population, longer life expectancies, and continued growth in the number of patients with chronic conditions.
Industry | Annual rate of change | Net change | 2029 employment | Industry sector |
---|---|---|---|---|
Forestry |
3.7% | 3,500 | 11,500 | Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting |
Individual and family services |
3.4 | 1,052,600 | 3,663,900 | Health care and social assistance |
Support activities for mining |
2.8 | 111,100 | 454,200 | Mining |
Home health care services |
2.6 | 456,000 | 1,983,400 | Health care and social assistance |
Outpatient care centers |
2.6 | 276,600 | 1,239,600 | Health care and social assistance |
Other personal services |
2.4 | 97,100 | 454,400 | Other services |
Computer systems design and related services |
2.3 | 574,500 | 2,776,700 | Professional and business services |
Offices of other health practitioners |
2.2 | 239,000 | 1,207,800 | Health care and social assistance |
Grantmaking and giving services and social advocacy organizations |
2.2 | 99,400 | 518,200 | Other services |
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services |
2.0 | 334,200 | 1,865,300 | Professional and business services |
Other educational services |
2.0 | 175,100 | 992,000 | Educational services |
Independent artists, writers, and performers |
1.9 | 11,000 | 64,100 | Leisure and hospitality |
Software publishers |
1.9 | 94,300 | 555,300 | Information |
Office administrative services |
1.7 | 98,700 | 624,800 | Professional and business services |
Museums, historical sites, and similar institutions |
1.6 | 29,800 | 202,700 | Leisure and hospitality |
Other ambulatory health care services |
1.6 | 53,300 | 366,900 | Health care and social assistance |
Animal food manufacturing |
1.6 | 10,800 | 74,800 | Manufacturing |
Metal ore mining |
1.5 | 6,800 | 48,600 | Mining |
Couriers and messengers |
1.4 | 126,300 | 942,100 | Transportation and warehousing |
Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment (except automotive and electronic) repair and maintenance |
1.4 | 33,300 | 252,900 | Other services |
Other transportation equipment manufacturing |
-1.7 | -5,700 | 29,600 | Manufacturing |
Lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets (except copyrighted works) |
-1.7 | -3,700 | 19,600 | Financial activities |
Coal mining |
-1.7 | -8,300 | 43,600 | Mining |
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing |
-1.7 | -44,200 | 237,400 | Manufacturing |
Seafood product preparation and packaging |
-1.8 | -6,000 | 29,300 | Manufacturing |
Railroad rolling stock manufacturing |
-1.9 | -4,300 | 19,800 | Manufacturing |
Printing and related support activities |
-2.1 | -82,300 | 342,300 | Manufacturing |
Wired telecommunications carriers |
-2.1 | -100,200 | 419,300 | Information |
Office furniture (including fixtures) manufacturing |
-2.5 | -24,700 | 86,200 | Manufacturing |
Clay product and refractory manufacturing |
-2.8 | -9,400 | 29,200 | Manufacturing |
Consumer goods rental and general rental centers |
-2.9 | -45,200 | 131,700 | Financial activities |
Cement and concrete product manufacturing |
-3.3 | -57,100 | 141,900 | Manufacturing |
Travel arrangement and reservation services |
-3.5 | -66,000 | 153,500 | Professional and business services |
Communications equipment manufacturing |
-3.6 | -25,500 | 58,000 | Manufacturing |
Apparel, leather and allied product manufacturing |
-3.7 | -43,500 | 94,200 | Manufacturing |
Federal electric utilities |
-3.8 | -4,800 | 10,100 | Federal government |
Electric lighting equipment manufacturing |
-3.9 | -15,200 | 30,800 | Manufacturing |
Newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers |
-4.0 | -99,200 | 199,300 | Information |
Cable and other subscription programming |
-4.8 | -20,700 | 32,300 | Information |
Tobacco manufacturing |
-5.2 | -4,700 | 6,700 | Manufacturing |
Manufacturing is projected to lose 444,800 jobs from 2019 to 2029, more than any other industry. Manufacturing contains 12 of the 20 industries projected to have the most rapid employment declines. Factors contributing to the loss of manufacturing jobs include the adoption of new productivity-enhancing technologies, such as robotics and international competition.
Healthcare occupations and those associated with healthcare (including mental health) account for most of the 20 fastest growing occupations from 2019 to 2029. Nurse practitioners, occupational therapy assistants, and physician assistants, are projected to increase by at least 30 percent over that period, as team-based healthcare models are increasingly used to deliver healthcare services.
Occupation | Percent change | Net change | 2029 employment |
---|---|---|---|
Wind turbine service technicians |
60.7% | 4,300 | 11,300 |
Nurse practitioners |
52.4 | 110,700 | 322,000 |
Solar photovoltaic installers |
50.5 | 6,100 | 18,100 |
Occupational therapy assistants |
34.6 | 16,300 | 63,500 |
Statisticians |
34.6 | 14,800 | 57,500 |
Home health and personal care aides |
33.7 | 1,159,500 | 4,599,200 |
Physical therapist assistants |
32.6 | 32,200 | 130,900 |
Medical and health services managers |
31.5 | 133,200 | 555,500 |
Physician assistants |
31.3 | 39,300 | 164,800 |
Information security analysts |
31.2 | 40,900 | 171,900 |
Data scientists and mathematical science occupations, all other |
30.9 | 10,300 | 43,400 |
Derrick operators, oil and gas |
30.5 | 3,700 | 15,700 |
Rotary drill operators, oil and gas |
26.9 | 5,600 | 26,600 |
Roustabouts, oil and gas |
25.1 | 14,700 | 73,100 |
Speech-language pathologists |
24.9 | 40,500 | 203,100 |
Operations research analysts |
24.8 | 26,100 | 131,300 |
Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors |
24.7 | 79,000 | 398,400 |
Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialists |
24.3 | 500 | 2,800 |
Cooks, restaurant |
23.1 | 327,300 | 1,744,600 |
Animal caretakers |
22.9 | 68,800 | 369,500 |
Grinding and polishing workers, hand |
-19.5 | -5,600 | 23,400 |
Door-to-door sales workers, news and street vendors, and related workers |
-20.0 | -14,600 | 58,300 |
Floral designers |
-20.1 | -10,400 | 41,400 |
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants |
-20.4 | -121,100 | 472,400 |
Prepress technicians and workers |
-20.7 | -6,300 | 24,000 |
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic |
-21.1 | -3,500 | 13,000 |
Postmasters and mail superintendents |
-21.9 | -2,900 | 10,500 |
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants |
-22.1 | -38,000 | 133,800 |
Manufactured building and mobile home installers |
-22.3 | -600 | 2,200 |
Timing device assemblers and adjusters |
-22.3 | -300 | 1,000 |
Switchboard operators, including answering service |
-22.5 | -15,700 | 54,100 |
Electronic equipment installers and repairers, motor vehicles |
-23.2 | -2,400 | 8,000 |
Data entry keyers |
-24.6 | -42,400 | 130,000 |
Travel agents |
-25.9 | -21,300 | 60,800 |
Telephone operators |
-27.9 | -1,400 | 3,600 |
Cutters and trimmers, hand |
-29.9 | -2,900 | 6,900 |
Watch and clock repairers |
-32.3 | -1,000 | 2,100 |
Nuclear power reactor operators |
-35.7 | -1,900 | 3,400 |
Parking enforcement workers |
-36.2 | -2,900 | 5,200 |
Word processors and typists |
-36.4 | -19,200 | 33,500 |
Computer occupations, such as information security analysts, are expected to see fast job growth. This is due to new product development associated with the Internet of Things (IoT).
Technological changes facilitating automation and e-commerce are expected to result in declining employment for office and administrative support occupations, such as word processors and typists (−36.4 percent), data entry keyers (−24.6 percent), and legal secretaries and administrative assistants (−22.1 percent).
These data are from the BLS Employment Projections program. Additional information about these and many other occupations may be found in the Occupational Outlook Handbook or "Employment Projections — 2019–29."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, 5 out of 20 fastest-growing industries from 2019 to 2029 are in healthcare and social assistance at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/5-out-of-20-fastest-growing-industries-from-2019-to-2029-are-in-healthcare-and-social-assistance.htm (visited October 14, 2024).