The Fastest Growing Jobs During The Economic Downturn (2007-2011)

Here is a look at the fastest growing jobs in the country from 2007-2011. These are all occupations that have grown despite our nation’s economic turmoil which began in 2007. The data comes from EMSI’s ranking of 800 federally recognized occupations. We whittled down the data and created three tables that indicate jobs with:

1. The highest growth percentage,
2. The most new jobs created, and
3. The highest wages (e.g., jobs that grew and that pay greater than $40 per hour on average nationally).

1. THE FASTEST BY % GROWTH

With 58% growth since 2007, personal financial advisors have grown faster than any other job in the nation. Behind them are extraction workers at 46%, securities/commodities/financial services sales agents at 43%, geological/petroleum technicians at 42%, and mining machine operators at 40%.

Two of the top five are related to money management. According to the BLS:

• Personal financial advisors: “Advise clients on financial plans utilizing knowledge of tax and investment strategies, securities, insurance, pension plans, and real estate. Duties include assessing clients’ assets, liabilities, cash flow, insurance coverage, tax status, and financial objectives to establish investment strategies.”
• Securities, commodities and financial services sales agents: “Buy and sell securities in investment and trading firms, or call upon businesses and individuals to sell financial services. Provide financial services, such as loan, tax, and securities counseling. May advise securities customers about such things as stocks, bonds, and market conditions.”

Both of these occupations require bachelor degrees and many of the jobs are “noncovered,” which means that they are not covered by unemployment insurance and therefore not in the traditional BLS database (click here for more). EMSI is able to capture these jobs in our Complete dataset, which is based on BEA and BLS data. Combined, these occupations added nearly 900,000 jobs to the economy. Financial analysts (people that “conduct quantitative analyses of information affecting investment programs of public or private institutions”) is another money management occupation that grew a lot over this time period (28% growth since 07).

Nine of the top 15 and three of the top five are related to the boom we have seen in oil extraction (which falls under mining). Here are the top three:

• Extraction worker: This is a general catchall category that captures low-skilled labor that works in the mining, oil, natural gas sector. The occupation requires moderate on-the-job training.
• Geological and petroleum technicians: “Assist scientists in the use of electrical, sonic, or nuclear measuring instruments in both laboratory and production activities to obtain data indicating potential sources of metallic ore, gas, or petroleum. Analyze mud and drill cuttings. Chart pressure, temperature, and other characteristics of wells or bore holes. Investigate and collect information leading to the possible discovery of new oil fields.” This occupation usually requires at least an associate’s degree.
• Mining machine operator: This is also a catchall category that captures low-skilled labor that works with mining machinery.

The other fastest-growing jobs are:

• Petroleum engineers (31%)
• Gas compressor and gas pumping station operators (31%)
• Wellhead pumpers (28%)
• Service unit operators (27%)
• Roustabouts (25%)

A few more definitions that might be helpful:

• Petroleum engineers: “Devise methods to improve oil and gas well production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice to achieve economical and satisfactory progress.”
• Roustabouts: “Assemble or repair oil field equipment using hand and power tools. Perform other tasks as needed.”

Only two of the top 15 are related to health care – home health aides and personal and home care aides. These two occupations are also the lowest paying on the list.

The highest-paying job on Table 1 is actually petroleum engineers at $48.68 per hour.

Also interesting is the level of education required for each job. On average, a bachelor’s degree is needed to become a personal financial advisor, while moderate-term on-the-job training is required for extraction workers (who, coincidentally, make slightly more than financial advisors—$16.62 vs. $16.39 per hour on average). Geological and petroleum technicians pay decently at $18.86, and require only an associate’s degree.

Table 2 looks at the jobs that experienced the most actual job growth from 2007 to 2011. (Please note: Recent years of proprietor data (2010 and 2011) in EMSI’s 2011.4 Complete Employment dataset, which we used for this for piece, are still estimates due to lag time in Bureau of Economic Analysis releases. Also, EMSI’s data is a jobs count rather than worker count; one person could hold multiple jobs.)

2. LARGEST JOB GROWTH

With over 500,000 new jobs in five years, personal financial advisors are at the top of the list again. Securities/commodities/financial services sales agents (No. 3 on Table 1) come in second with 360,000 new jobs. Home health aides (also in the top 15 fastest growing by %) are next with 260,000 new jobs. Managers are close behind with 250,000 new jobs.

Money management is still a big deal on this list. The same three occupations (personal financial advisors, securities sales agents, and financial analysts) that were on the first table are on this list as well. Simple point: They grew A LOT and added a large number of jobs – 999,149, to be exact.  These occupations also represent three of the four jobs on the list that require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree (teachers are the fourth).

Health showed up on this list more than the first one. Four of the top 14 are related to health care (home health aides, registered nurses, personal and home care aides, nursing aides, orderlies and attendants).

Many of the jobs on this list are low-paying and low-skilled. Child care workers have the lowest average wage ($7.94) followed by food preparation workers ($8.43), maids ($8.54), personal and home care aides ($8.80), managers of housekeepers ($9.53) and home health aides ($9.73). These jobs only require short-term on-the-job training.

The highest-paying job on the list is registered nurse at $30 per hour on average.

3. HIGHEST-PAYING JOBS THAT GREW

Table 3 looks at the jobs that grew and pay greater than $40 per hour. Not surprisingly, the average educational attainment for this set is much higher. The highest-paying, fastest-growing job is physicians and surgeons at $73.48 per hour. Dentists follow at $58.77, and then it’s a virtual tie between air traffic controllers ($52.76), natural sciences managers ($52.42), and pharmacists ($52.32).

Four of the 12 occupations are related to health care: physicians and surgeons, physician assistants, pharmacists, and dentists. Another four are related to computers and engineering – computer software engineers/systems software, petroleum engineers (also the fastest-growing on the list), computer and information scientists/research, and aerospace engineers.

More descriptions:

• Natural science managers: “Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics, and research and development in these fields.”
• Physician assistants: “Provide healthcare services typically performed by a physician, under the supervision of a physician. Conduct complete physicals, provide treatment, and counsel patients. May, in some cases, prescribe medication. Must graduate from an accredited educational program for physician assistants.”
• Computer software engineers: “Research, design, develop, and test operating systems-level software, compilers, and network distribution software for medical, industrial, military, communications, aerospace, business, scientific, and general computing applications. Set operational specifications and formulate and analyze software requirements. Apply principles and techniques of computer science, engineering, and mathematical analysis.”
• Computer and information scientists/research: “Conduct research into fundamental computer and information science as theorists, designers, or inventors. Solve or develop solutions to problems in the field of computer hardware and software.”
• Aerospace engineers: “Perform a variety of engineering work in designing, constructing, and testing aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture. May recommend improvements in testing equipment and techniques.”

For more on high-paying jobs, see this link.

Concluding observations

• The boom in domestic oil is creating a lot of rapid job growth, which is reflected in the first table.
• Health care isn’t well represented in the first table, but it is still adding a decent amount of jobs (Table 2) that are high-paying (Table 3).
• Science and engineering are promising targets for good wages and decent growth.
• The surprising thing to note is the huge growth that took place in the three money management occupations—personal financial advisors, securities/commodities/financial services sales agents, and financial analysts. Many of the jobs found in this sector are classified as noncovered (see our note above or read this article about the rise of the non-covered worker).

Post by Rob Sentz. Illustration by Mark Beauchamp. Follow EMSI on Twitter @DesktopEcon. The data and analysis used in this post comes from Analyst, EMSI’s web-based labor market analysis tool. If you are interested in Analyst, click here.

Read more at Economic Modeling Specialists (EMSI blog)