The hemorrhage of jobs from the American economy is slowing, according to new figures from the Labor Department released on Friday. In the best showing since December 2007, payrolls fell by a mere 11,000 workers in November—far fewer than the median estimate of 125,000 predicted by Bloomberg-surveyed economists, while the overall jobless rate declined from 10.2 percent to 10 percent. Clark Merrefield offers 10 cutting-edge jobs that are hiring.
While Afghanistan and health care dominate the headlines, anyone who can read a polling report knows the No. 1 issue for Americans right now: jobs. That’s why President Obama hosted some of America’s most powerful CEOs at the White House for a "jobs summit," in advance of Friday’s new unemployment report.
Click Here for 10 Cutting-Edge Jobs That Are Hiring
Economists say the recession is over, but, employment-wise, it’s very much alive and well. Given that hiring lags recovery, it will likely remain that way for some time.
That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news. There are some silver linings across the economy. One hot area: the technology sector. The number of openings and wages are up, and these cutting-edge jobs cut across every field—technology is redefining every business in America—allowing a wide swath of the working population to jump in, with some retraining.
The Daily Beast set out to find the 10 tech jobs that stand out in this field, in terms of growth in pay and positions. The answers cut across a variety of occupations and education levels. When it comes to tech, there’s something for nearly everyone, and the pay for all occupations on our list is well above the national median.
Our methodology is as follows. We started by ranking the 25 occupational categories in the tech sector by their estimated employment change through 2016, sourced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Points were also given by ranking the occupations based on actual employment and wage changes from 2006 to present. Because wage and employment numbers by occupation only run through 2008, we used industry data—which is updated monthly—to update our occupation numbers. The result is a list of 10 jobs that aren’t going anywhere soon—except up.
Clark Merrefield is a reporter for The Daily Beast.