New York’s Top Jobs for 2013

New York isn’t exactly making any waves with its sluggish snapback after the 2008 recession — especially compared to other states like North Dakota or Texas. New York City itself, however, has ridden out the meltdown better than analysts expected. Since 2010, NYC has grown 4% with an increase of over 230,000 jobs while the rest of the state has only inched up 1.5% with 51,400 jobs.

With over 12.5 million people, New York City also makes up more than 64% of the state’s 19.5 million population, it has twice as many jobs (6 million vs. 3 million), and its workers make a lot more than their neighbors to the north (an average of $81.4K annually vs. $52.6K–though of course, the cost of living in NYC can can be as high as the skyscrapers).

In this post, we want to keep this disparity between New York City and the rest of the Empire State in mind as we analyze the top jobs. What are the fastest-growing occupations for either region? The highest-paying? The most unique to New York? Using Analyst (EMSI’s web-based labor market analysis tool), we’ll examine the growth patterns since 2010 in order to get an idea of the state’s (and city’s) top jobs for 2013.

Our observations are based solely on labor market data from EMSI’s 2013.1 release, which includes both wage-and-salary employees and self-employed. Bear in mind: because of the time lag in federal and state releases, our most recent annual average job numbers are still estimates. So we’ll be giving a simple projection here. This is what jobs in New York will look like if the weather holds.

Fastest-Growing Jobs

To determine the fastest-growing occupations, we’ll look at both how many new jobs have been added as well as each occupation’s proportional growth (filtering for those that contain at least 1000 jobs). The following tables list the occupations that have piled on the most new jobs since 2010 . Many of the same occupations are growing in NYC as across the rest of the state, but NYC is adding way more of them. The most impressive jobs for both are:

• Home health aides (+5,000 in NY, +15,000 in NYC)

• Combined food preparation & serving workers, including fast food (+4,000 in NY, +13,000 in NYC)

• Retail salespersons (+3,700 in NY, +13,000 in NYC)

• Registered nurses in NY (+3,400) and personal care aides in NYC (12,000)

The next tables list the occupations that grew by the greatest percent, which are, for the most part, very different in NYC than in NY. Here are the ones that overlap:

• Insurance sales agents (+15% in NY, +13% in NYC)

• Home health aides (+13% in NY, +16% in NYC, the second fastest growing occupation in both regions)

• Personal care aides (+11% in NY, +12% in NYC)

• Combined food preparation & serving workers, including fast food (+6% in upstate NY, +17% in NYC–the fastest-growing occupation in the city in terms of percent growth)

In NYC, half of the fastest-growing occupations are food prep/service-related (SOC 35-000 — ae New Yorkers helping us eat our way out of the recession?), while in the rest of the state, there’s no real pattern except perhaps with sales occupations (SOC 41-000).

Highest-Paying Jobs

It’s pretty predictable, turning to the jobs that make top dollar. There’s an unsurprisingly large number of healthcare jobs (SOC 29-000) and management positions (SOC 11-000) in both regions. (Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates is the only exception in the state outside NYC.) And every occupation requires at least a bachelor’s degree, which is no shocker. To make more money, you first have to spend more money (and time).

What else we notice:

• Some of the highest-paying jobs in the rest of the state are in decline, but down in the Big Apple, everything’s growing except for dentists (-5%).

• Most of the jobs in NYC have pretty decent concentration (ranging from 0.87 LQ to 2.53 LQ), which is another way of saying these high-paying jobs are pretty unique and compelling for the city.

• Most of the jobs in region outside NYC have considerably lower concentration. The highest is judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates (3.61 LQ), but good specialization might not be that comforting in the face of -4% decline.

Most Concentrated Jobs

NY state and NYC show very different jobs when it comes to highest concentration or specialization (measured by location quotient, LQ). Many of the most concentrated jobs in upper NY are in dramatic decline, so we’ve filtered for the jobs that have grown at least a little since the recession. In NYC (where the occupation landscape is much more upbeat and interesting), we’ve filtered similarly for growing jobs, but we’ve added a filter for jobs that make $25/hour or higher (median hourly wage).

Cool things to note:

• Overall, the most concentrated jobs in the region north of NYC require lower education and lower pay (such as home health aides) and those in NYC require more training and yield higher wages (such as physicians & surgeons and advertising & promotions managers).

• Outside NYC, home health aides has grown the most. (Three of the region’s most concentrated jobs have to do with healthcare, but the other occupations are all over the map — no pun intended).

• Five of 13 occupations in NYC are entertainment-related (art, design, sports, media, SOC 27-000) with the most concentrated of all being sound engineering technicians (3.65 LQ, up from 3.56 in 2010). In fact, entertainment jobs make up the top three on the list.

• Three of 13 jobs in NYC pertain to business & financial operations (SOC 13-000).

Best Jobs Overall

It’s somewhat rare for solid growth, good pay, and high concentration to come together, but a few promising jobs have all three (or enough of two that it makes up for not having the third). These are the standouts for New York City and the rest of the state:

Outside New York City:

#1. Registered nurses: +3,366 jobs, +5%, 1.08 LQ, $29.52/hour. The fact that nurses will always be in demand is one of this occupation’s biggest lures. Another is its solid wages while requiring less than a regular four-year degree.

SOC 29-1111: Registered nurses assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required.

#2. Insurance sales agents: +1,813 jobs, +15%, 0.89 LQ, $23/hour. The appeal is growth and moderate on-the-job training.

SOC 41-3021: Insurance sales agents sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. May refer clients to independent brokers, work as an independent broker, or be employed by an insurance company.

#3. Physicians & surgeons, all other: +450, +4%, 1.42 LQ, $76.51/hour. The concentration is the most exciting; we could have predicted the wages.

SOC 29-1069: All physicians and surgeons not listed separately.

New York City:

#1. Computer & information systems managers: +1,150, +6%, 1.4 LQ, $70.78/hour. This occupation easily takes the cake with its sturdy growth and concentration, and you just can’t beat those wages for a job that requires only a bachelor’s degree plus work experience.

SOC 11-3021: Computer & information systems managers plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as electronic data processing, information systems, systems analysis, and computer programming.

#2. Advertising & promotions managers: +436, +10%, 3.37 LQ, $61.19/hour. It’s the crazy concentration and appealing wages that call for our attention more than growth.

SOC 11-2011: Advertising & promotions managers plan, direct, or coordinate advertising policies and programs or produce collateral materials, such as posters, contests, coupons, or giveaways, to create extra interest in the purchase of a product or service for a department, an entire organization, or on an account basis.

#3. Financial analysts: +2,220, +8%, 2.79 LQ, $49.01/hour. Compare with #4. Personal financial advisors: +1,879, +9%, 2.61 LQ, $52.36/hour. Basically, you can make good money worrying over other people’s.

SOC 11-3031: Financial analysts plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment.

SOC 13-2052: Personal financial advisors advise clients on financial plans using 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.

$5. Software developers, systems software: +1,554, +14%, 0.71 LQ, $47.16/hour. Robust growth, plus the wages aren’t too shabby.

SOC 15-1133: Software developers 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. May design embedded systems software. Apply principles and techniques of computer science, engineering, and mathematical analysis.

#6. Market research analysts & marketing specialists: +3,487 jobs, +15%, 1.72 LQ, $35.21/hour. The strongest attractions here are growth and concentration.

SOC 13-1161: Market research analysts and marketing specialists research market conditions in local, regional, or national areas, or gather information to determine potential sales of a product or service, or create a marketing campaign. May gather information on competitors, prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution.

#7. Physicians & surgeons, all others: +803, +2%, 2.48 LQ, $75.31/hour. As in the rest of the state, physicians & surgeons in NYC have surprisingly high concentration.

#8. Registered nurses: +5,000 jobs, +5%, 0.96 LQ, $38.91/hour.

If you have any questions or comments, email Rob Sentz ([email protected]) or call us at 208-883-3500.