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Data on display
Projected new jobs by major occupational group, 2016–26

Allen Chen | October 2017

The economy is expected to add about 11.5 million jobs over the 2016–26 decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Nearly half, or 5.7 million, of those projected new jobs are concentrated in 5 of the 22 major occupational groups. 

The federal government organizes workers into broad groups of similar occupations using the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification system. As the chart shows, the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations group is projected to add more jobs than is any other group over the 2016–26 decade—more than 1.3 million. Of those, almost one-third (438,100) are expected to be for registered nurses.

Even in the production occupational group, which is projected to lose nearly 407,000 jobs overall, employment gains in some occupations are expected. Together, the five occupations with the most growth in this group are projected to add more than 106,000 jobs from 2016 to 2026. 

The 2016–26 projections and 2016 employment data, along with the education, training, and experience information, come from the BLS Employment Projections program. Wage data come from the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics program.