Future Careers
With my two oldest children into their university years, I am looking a little more closely at where the high growth/high income jobs are placed these days. What jobs pay well today? What jobs are the best ones to consider for the future?
We have always looked at university as non-negotiable. In our complex society, a foundation in education is really not an option. Some folks might succeed in life without such a foundation but most will not.
My oldest children will enter the labour market as the baby boomers begin their mass exodus. This bodes very well for them. The supply/demand curves will be out of balance for a while.
From Money Magazine, the top ten paying careers in North America listed in order of highest average salary:
- Executives
- Physician/Surgeons
- Oral and maxillofacial surgeons
- Lawyers
- Sales managers
- Financial services sales agents
- Financial managers
- Dentists
- Financial advisors
- Natural sciences managers
No denying the value of a business degree and no denying the opportunities in financial services.
What about future growth prospects? The list may surprise you. Here are the top ten high growth careers and the percentage growth in job openings over the next ten years:
- Physician assistant 49.65%
- Software engineer 46.07%
- Physical therapist assistants 44.20%
- Dental hygienists 43.32%
- Physical therapist 36.74%
- Forensic science technicians 36.40%
- Computer/IT analyst 36.10%
- Veterinary technologists and technicians 35.32%
- Occupational therapist assistants 34.10%
- Medical scientist 34.06%
I guess it is still too early to write off careers in information technology. And perhaps there is still more opportunity for CSI spinoffs given the demand for forensic science technicians. I wonder if that means violent crime will also increase.
And, finally, what are the best jobs to hold in terms of career satisfaction, personal growth, and income?
- Software Engineer
- College Professor
- Financial Adviser
- Human Resources Manager
- Physician Assistant
- Market Research Analyst
- Computer IT Analyst
- Real Estate Appraiser
- Pharmacist
- Psychologist
I did not notice “blogger” anywhere on the list.
I am somewhat surprised not to see any “trades’ on these lists….while they may not have qualified as top paying, I am aware of such shortages. Good tradesmen, who drive towards company ownership and supporting such industries as construction, can be very lucrative indeed. A good ‘plumber’ friend of mine is drawing significant work and income from his livelihood. He lives extremely well on Mississauga Road, in the midst of other “captains of industry”?
I know several people who have done extremely well in the trades. There is a view that you get a “job” in the trades and you get a “career” in the professions.
At the end of the day it is about developing your potential and leveraging your skills. Personally, I would not pursue a trade. But I do sense a bit of a looming crisis in the labour market generally. The Baby Boomers will leave a mark when they exit for retirement!
Agreed. At times in my professional career, I have contemplated a ‘job’ in the trades. In most trades, when you go home at the end of the day, you are home and work does not follow you there. Very tempting indeed. And at the end of the day, we will always need plumbers, ne ”˜est pas?
Designers should be in there because there is a shortage, and i dont think that job will ever be replaced.