If you’re looking for a new career or job, it’s easiest to find them in “growth industries.” An industry is a classification of work based on the company’s primary business activity. For example, an accounting company might have a consulting or litigation support practice, but their primary activity and source of revenue is from accounting practices. Therefore, “accounting practices” are their industry or sector.
A growth industry is an industry that meets a certain percentage of growth criteria. This is based on percent of growth from one year to the next. In this list, the industries with the highest growth projections until 2020 are listed. This blog presents a summary of industry-level employment percentile forecasts provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its most recent document.
The information presented here has been interpreted not by a journalist or newspaper editor, but by a career expert. Those seeking new careers in 2017 can use these employment forecast statistics as a guide in their new career exploration and decision-making. There’s also a Part 2 of this blog with more information on factors impacting new career choices.
Based on Employment by Major Industry Sectors, overall job growth rate projections to 2020 is expected to be a modest 1.3% growth creating some 20,468,000 jobs as industries recover from the impacts of the past recession. This ranking is based on the percentage of job growth; keep in mind that the percentage of growth is different than the number of new jobs. Some industries with greater percentage growth have less new jobs than industries with less percentage growth. You can expect to find the most jobs for your new career in the following sectors:
#1 Health Care and Social Services
| Number of New Jobs | ~5.6 million jobs |
| Percentage Job Growth* | 3.0% |
| Examples of Jobs in Industry |
#2 Construction
| Number of New Jobs | ~1.8 million jobs (#3) |
| Percentage Job Growth* | 2.9% |
| Examples of Jobs in Industry |
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#3 Educational Services
| Number of New Jobs | ~820 thousand jobs (#8) |
| Percentage Job Growth* | 2.3% |
| Examples of Jobs in Industry |
#4 Professional and Business Services
| Number of New Jobs | ~3.8 million jobs (#2) |
| Percentage Job Growth* | 2.1% |
| Examples of Jobs in Industry |
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#5 Transportation and Warehousing
| Number of New Jobs | ~852 thousand jobs (#7) |
| Percentage Job Growth* | 1.9% |
| Examples of Jobs in Industry |
How can I use this information?
It is best to seek a new career in an industry where there is both projected employment growth and a large number of new jobs over the next several years. These are only the top 5 industry sectors. You can use this information as only a part of the equation when seeking a new career. More information can be found here regarding 2020 employment projections.
Even more information, probably more vital than the subject of this blog, can be found by taking career tests. You can click here to find career tests that identify your best new career. For more blogs, you can read these:
- New Career Factors to Consider: Factors to Consider when Choosing a New Career
- Career Personality Tests for New Careers: The best Personality Tests when seeking your New Career
- Career Interest Tests for New Career: The best Interest Tests for choosing a New Career
- Career Ability Tests for New Career: The best Ability Tests and Aptitude Test when you want a to find a New Career
Career Values Tests for New Career: The best Work Values Tests for picking a New Career