WHO ARE YOU?

Perhaps you aspire to an associate’s degree, or you’re determined to get a doctorate. Or maybe you have no plans for formal education. Whatever your goal is, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has data by education level that show which occupations are expected to have the most openings over the coming decade.  Career choices ranging from fast-food workers, home health aid, truck drivers, to lawyers will take the lead as far as career opportunity growth from 2019 thru 2029.

BLS makes long-term employment projections for nearly 800 detailed occupations. Each occupation is assigned to the education level that’s typically required for workers to enter. This article highlights 50 of the occupations that BLS projects to have the most openings each year, on average, from 2019 to 2029. These occupational openings are grouped by education level as follows:

• No formal educational credential 
• High school diploma or equivalent
• Associate's degree; postsecondary nondegree award; and some college, no degree
• Bachelor's degree
• Master's, doctoral, and professional degrees

Across all occupations, BLS projects more than 17 million openings each year, on average, from 2019 to 2029. Openings arise from two sources: when new jobs are created from employment growth and when workers leave an occupation permanently, such as to transfer to another occupation or to retire.

Keep reading to see tables showing projected openings and median annual wages at each of the education levels. (A median wage is the point at which half of workers made more than the amount, and half made less. In 2019, the median annual wage for all workers was $39,810.) The tables also indicate whether workers typically need experience in a related occupation for entry and whether on-the-job training to attain competency is typically required.  

(Source: https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2020/article/education-level-and-openings.htm)