While the American labor market took a massive hit during the Great Recession, health care jobs are among the top 10 professions making the strongest comeback, according to a recent article by 24/7 Wall St.
Personal care aides ranked No. 2 on the top 10 list, with home health aides ranking close behind at No. 3.
The anticipated growth of the senior population can be attributed to the increased need for home health service workers, 24/7 Wall St. says. The 50-and-over population is projected to increase about 20% by 2030.
24/7 Wall St. identified the fastest jobs in America based on estimated employment figures and projections for 2012 and 2022 published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for more than 1,000 occupations.
The BLS expects that over 580,000 jobs for personal care aides will be created in the decade through 2022, the most out of any of America’s fastest growing jobs. Yet, the median annual wage for personal care aids was just $19,910 as of 2012, well below the nationwide median of $34,750 for all occupations.
The growth in employment for home health aides is projected to grow by 48.5% between 2012 and 2022, just .3% less than the projected growth for personal care aides. The median annual income for home health aides is $20,820.
The effects of an aging population, which has access to Medicare, “combined with innovations that provide new treatments” has led to increases in health care spending. In turn, more spending creates “a high demand for jobs to provide these services,” Martin Kohli, chief regional economist for the BLS, tells 24/7 Wall St.
In fact, the average of all health support occupations is expected to grow 28% by 2022. Six jobs within the top 10 are in the health care sector.
Economic trends and government and private sector initiatives are also expected to contribute to growth in specific occupations.
Read the full article here.
Written by Cassandra Dowell
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