Periodic Table Day: BLS periodic table of STEM occupations

National Periodic Table Day, recognized on February 7 each year, commemorates contributions to chemistry including publication of an early table of elements by John Newlands on that date in 1863. It also happens to land 1 day before the February 8 birthday of Dmitri Mendeleev, the scientist known for creating the periodic table of chemical elements. At BLS, we created our own periodic table. In place of elements, we highlight wages and projected employment growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations.

On our STEM periodic table, information security analysts, actuaries, and computer and information systems managers are among the fast-growing occupations that typically require a bachelor’s degree for entry. Employment for information security analysts is projected to grow 28.5 percent from 2024 to 2034. Actuary employment is projected to increase 21.8 percent over the same period. Information security analysts and actuaries earned median annual wages of around $125,000 each in 2024. Employment of computer and information systems managers is expected to grow 15.2 percent over the decade and the median annual wage in 2024 was $171,200.

Wage estimates are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, and typical entry-level educational requirements and projected employment change over the 2024–34 decade are from Employment Projections. We have information on more occupations in the Occupational Outlook Handbook.