Top 10 tech and health jobs with the best pay and growth potential
A new analysis shows that infosec analysts, sysadmins and network architects will see the most growth over the next decade.
fizkes, Getty Images/iStockphoto
People in health, science and tech jobs will have the best chance at finding a job and making good money in the next decade, according to a new analysis. SmartAsset crunched the numbers from a Bureau of Labor Statistics report to compile the list.
The top 10 list of the most promising jobs for employment and pay are:
- Nurse practitioners
- Medical and health services managers
- Information security analysts
- Physician assistants
- Financial managers
- Statisticians
- Postsecondary health specialties teachers
- Computer and information research scientists
- Computer and information systems managers
- Computer network architects
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Among the IT jobs in the top 10 list, the projected growth over the next 10 years is 42% for information security analysts, 19% for computer and information research scientists, 15% for network architects and 11% for computer and information systems managers. The predicted increase in earnings over the next four years is between 10% and 12%. The average earnings for each group in 2019 was:
- Computer and information systems managers $156,390
- Computer and information research scientists $127,460
- Computer network architects $115,110
- Information security analysts $104,210
The report authors examined 808 occupations identified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as likely to have a higher than 10% projected growth over the next 10 years. The review also included jobs with an average salary of at least $64,240. The analysis included these four metrics:
- 10-year expected percentage growth in employment
- 10-year expected growth in number of workers
- 2019 average earnings
- Four-year growth in earnings from 2015 to 2019
The analysis ranked each occupation on each metric and then created an average ranking for each job type to determine the final score. That’s why infosec analysts score higher on the list than the other IT jobs. The average salary for those jobs is lower than the other roles ($104,210) but the projected growth is much higher (43% over the next 10 years). The projected growth for computer research scientists is 19%, the rate for systems managers is 11% and the rate for network architects is 15%.
Several other tech and science jobs showed up on the top 40 list including network and computer systems administrators, actuaries, medical scientists, biochemists and biophysicists, genetic counselors, industrial engineers, epidemiologists, audiologists, microbiologists.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued new projections earlier this year to account for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on job prospects. The new forecast includes two scenarios to reflect the effect of the pandemic: A moderate impact version and a strong impact version. Job growth may be about 1% lower than expected in the moderate scenario and close to 2% lower in the strong impact analysis. The 10-year growth is based on the moderate impact scenario from the BLS.
SmartAsset is a financial technology company that advises consumers on financial decisions such as investing and buying a house.
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