Which Industries Are Going to Boom in the Next 10 Years? Check This Chart

The news: On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report detailing its projections for how employment will rise or fall in different industries.

The projections, which estimate the rate of change for employment over the ten-year period between 2012 and 2022, are broken down by industry and sector.

My advice? Get into the services-providing sector. 

According to the BLS, only two industries that fall in the goods-producing category will see annual increases in employment. On the other hand, 11 services-providing industries will see substantial increases in employment. Check out the graph below:

Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistics 

So which industries have the best forecasts? The health care and social assistance industry will see a 2.6% annual increase in employment, meaning an estimated 5 million jobs will be added by 2022. According to the BLS report, this “accounts for nearly one-third of the total projected increase in jobs.” Construction, too, is projected to have a 2.6% annual increase, adding 1.6 million new jobs. But the only other goods-producing industry with a positive annual change is mining, at 1.4%.

The agriculture, manufacturing, information, and utilities industries will all see decreases in employment over the next ten years. The federal government, too, will continue its drop, losing around 400,000 jobs by 2022. 

The BLS report breaks down its projected employment changes by specific occupation, which tells pretty much the same story as the industry breakdown:

Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Occupations in the health care industry are going to see the biggest spikes, with health care support occupations rising by nearly 30%, and personal care occupations jumping by around 20%. 

Why this matters: Perhaps the most promising note in the BLS report is that “every major occupational group except farming, fishing, and forestry occupations is projected to gain jobs between 2012 and 2022.” (Apologies if you're in the farming, fishing, or forestry industry.)

50.6 million jobs are projected to open up over the next 10 years. That, along with the positive employment data from earlier this month, points to an economy that is indeed improving, albeit slowly.