Revealed: The top 10 best – and worst – jobs for the future, with tech and health care leading the way and factory work falling behind
- App developers, physician’s assistants and marketing research analysts are among top jobs of the future, with high salaries and major projected job growth
- Meanwhile, projectionists, factory workers and watch repairers are on the way out of favor with low pay and projected job losses over the next decade
- Experts at the World Economic Forum forecast 133 million new jobs will created globally by 2022 as a result of technology and automation
- At the same time, 75 million jobs will be lost as lower-tech jobs are eliminated
The job market is shifting rapidly, and while unemployment is low, many careers that used to offer reliable lifelong earning potential are disappearing in favor of high-tech opportunities.
Experts at Kiplinger, a Washington D.C.-based business forecasting website, analysized 773 popular occupations and identified the best (and worst) jobs for the future.
They based their rankings on an analysis of data from dozens of federal and state entities to project potential job growth in each industry and compare median salaries.
Jobs requiring education and tech savvy tended to be the most promising, while anachronistic careers that can be replaced by machinery were considered the worst jobs for the future.
This chart illustrates the projected job growth for the five best – and five worst – positions for the future, with tech expertise and health care leading the way forward
App development, unsurprisingly, topped the list, with a projected job growth through 2027 of 30.4 percent and a median salary of $100,857. The current number of app development jobs in the U.S. is 878,990, and the career typically requires a bachelor’s degree.
Nurse practitioner was the second-best job on the list, with 172,102 jobs and a projected growth of 35.2 percent through 2027.
As health care evolves in the U.S., patients are expected to rely more on nurse practitioners, who are highly trained and highly sought after. The job requires a Master’s degree, but has a high median salary of $103,947.
Next was the role of health services manager, a job that requires overseeing the functions of a medical practice or facility. With a median salary of $96,517 and projected job growth of 21 percent, it’s a career with potential, according to Kiplinger.
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Financial managers come in fourth, with a median salary of $122,733, projected job growth of 19.1 percent and an opportunity to manage a company’s cash flow.
Marketing research analyst rounds out the top five best jobs, with a salary of $62,828 and projected job growth of 24.2 percent. Typically the job just requires a bachelor’s degree, but higher earning potential can come with higher-level degrees.
In sixth place is the role of the computer systems manager, a job that has workers planning, coordinating and directing all IT activities of a single organization. The job has a median salary of $138,142 and projected job growth of 14.4 percent.
Next on the list is information security analyst, a position that is becoming increasingly in demand at banks, tech firms and in the health care industry – anywhere where personal information needs to be protected. The job offers a median salary of $95,506 and projected job growth of 27.2 percent.
The role of physician’s assistant came in eight place, with a median salary of $103,986. Similarly to nurse practitioners, people in this role are increasingly expected to pick up where doctor’s leave off – leading to increased demand and a projected job growth of 35.3 percent.
Within four years, machines are expected to take on significantly more of the work currently being done by humans. This chart illustrates the proportion of work hours that humans vs. machines spend on various tasks in 2018 compared to projections for 2022, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2018
Health care continued to dominate the list, with physical therapists coming in ninth despite requiring a doctoral degree. The position has a median annual salary of $85,694 and projected job growth of 27.1 percent.
Dental hygienists round out the top 10, with 20.9 percent projected job growth and a median salary of $74,432.
At the other end of the spectrum, watch repairers have the grimmest future ahead of them, with a median annual salary of $25,203 and projected job growth (loss) of -27 percent.
Similarly becoming obsolete are the prefabricated home builders of yore. While manufactured buildings and homes once accounted for as much as 25 percent of all new single family homes, they’re decreasing in popularity. The job has a median salary of $29,297 and projected job growth of -7.8 percent.
Textile machine operator comes in as the third-worst job to have for the future. With just a $28,288 salary and projected job growth of -23.6 percent, people in that profession would be wise to seek out new skills and opportunities.
Fabric menders followed, with a 2.1 percent projected job growth and $25,062 annual salary. It is yet another low-skilled position with limited potential in the future.
This chart illustrates the proportion of American companies projected to adopt new technologies in the workplace by 2022. Some technologies – like big data analytics – are already widely in use, while others (humanoid robots) are just emerging
Shoe machine operators round out the top five worst jobs for the future, with a $27,627 median salary and projected job growth of -7.3 percent.
Projectionists follow: with fewer people going to the movies each year, these professionals have a projected -6.4 percent job growth and a median salary of $22,048.
Similarly, the job of photo processor is becoming a thing of the past, as more people rely on digital images and fewer seek to develop actual film. The job has a median salary of $27,556 and projected job growth of -12.3 percent.
Paper hangers – the people who hang wallpaper and billboard advertisements – are also losing their jobs rapidly. With a median salary of $30,499 and job growth of -12.6 percent, this job comes in as the eighth-worst.
Loggers are also losing jobs as more of their work becomes automated by machines: the career path has a median salary of $36,573 and projected job growth of -17 percent.
Rounding out the 10 worst jobs for the future was the telephone operator. With revolutions in the way people and businesses communicate, this job (with a median $36,317 salary and -10.7 percent projected job growth) is among the worst for the future.
All of this is signalling major changes ahead for job seekers.
The World Economic Forum is forecasting a massive shift just over the next four years, with 133 million new jobs created globally as a result of technology and automation by 2022. During that same period 75 million jobs are expected to be lost worldwide as lower-tech jobs are eliminated and more automation replaces low-skill positions.
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