A couple of weeks ago, we examined the "Mixed Outlook for College Grads" and saw that the STEM-degreed (Science Technology, Engineering and Math) graduates were more likely to find employment and be paid more than other grads. In a related exploration, we offer you insights on the expected growth of occupations and industries, based on data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and other reliable sources. Not surprisingly, the job growth in technical fields will exceed the increases in the non-technical.
The combination of aging Baby Boomers, the shift to digital medical records and the sequencing of the human genome will result in the strongest growth being in the field of Health Information Technology. By the year 2018, jobs in this field will grow by 20 percent, or 35,100 new positions. According to a report from the University of California (UC) San Diego, this growth will fuel the demand for engineers, analysts, consultants and support specialists. With the exponential increase in cancer therapies, we see an increase in the areas of clinical trials design and management for oncology.
And speaking of healthcare and Boomers, with 34 million people over the age of 65, and that number set to double by 2050, the Geriatric Healthcare industry will provide a variety of new positions. We will need people to take care of the seniors, manage facilities and develop healthcare plans for them. We also see growth in the area of personal trainers specializing in working with seniors.
An enlarged healthcare system will need more professionals trained in Health Law. Peripheral careers in the field span a wide range, including healthcare administration, program and policy development, public health and the pharmaceutical industry.
According to a study out of UC Berkeley, the amount of data in the world doubles every three years. Career prospects in mining those data include jobs in advertising technology, fraud detection, risk management and law enforcement.
With the increase in legislation to protect workers, we will need substantially more occupational health and safety specialists who will analyze work environments to prevent injury, particularly in industries involving chemical, physical or biological agents.
Check out the next Herman Trend Alert for Part 2 of Where the Jobs Are/Will Be.
