Jobs Outlook to 2024: Encouraging or Disappointing? (Part 3)

Part 3 of 3

Last month the Bureau of Labor Statistics released their Projections of Occupational Employment 2014– 2024. They do an excellent job presenting and explaining the information.

So you may wonder, are the projections good news or bad news for the US workforce? Lately we have seen a mix of good and bad news about the economy. The same can be said about the national occupational employment projections.

In my last post we discussed future job growth numbers. Now let’s look at whether the growth is in high- or low-wage occupations.

• First the bad news: Between 2012 and 2014 occupational employment increased by nearly 5.2 million jobs. However, less than half (43%) of the increase was from the 13 occupational groups that pay more than the median annual wage of $35,540. The other 57% of the increase was from the 9 other occupational groups that pay less than the median annual wage. So we can say that low-wage jobs grew faster than high-wage jobs.
• Now the good news: Looking to the future, this trend is projected to reverse. We are projected to see nearly 9.8 million new jobs between 2014 and 2024. More than half (56%) of the increase is projected to come from the 13 occupational groups that pay more than the median annual wage. The other 44% of the increase is projected to come from the 9 other occupational groups that pay less than the median annual wage. So moving forward high-wage jobs will grow faster than low-wage jobs.

Which occupations are the most promising? I will discuss these trends in future posts.