Top 10 Fastest Growing Careers in the World

Friday, August 12th 2011. | Fastest

Every individual has divergent passions and interests in life and often, the career choice we make is reflective of such preferences. Choosing a career for the future should involve several factors, such as the nature of the work, the work environment, the income level, growth opportunities and the work-life balance. You may still be in high school, but it’s not too early to start thinking about your career. Today, a variety of career options are available to us, some of the fastest growing careers are listed in this article.

10. ATHLETIC TRAINER

Job Growth: 37 percent, or 6,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $41,340 mean

With the rising cost of health care, trainers are becoming an integral player in industry (Boeing and Disney use them), government (the military, F.B.I., Homeland Security and Department of Defense) and the performing arts (Cirque du Soleil and the Rockettes, in their traveling troupes).

athletic trainer

9. BIOCHEMIST AND BIOPHYSICIS

Job Growth: 37 percent, or 9,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $88,550 mean; New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., pay the best.

Biochemists and biophysicists study living organisms at the molecular level one focusing on their chemical composition, especially DNA and how it can be manipulated to treat disease and genetic disorders, the other using math and physics to understand how mechanical and electrical energy affect an organism. The three fields are so interrelated that labels are becoming artificial, says Beverly Wendland, chairwoman of the biology department at Johns Hopkins.

biochemists and biophysicists

8. SKIN CARE SPECIALIST

Job Growth: 38 percent, or 15,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $13 median hourly wage; $60,000 or more in affluent areas, especially selling products

Boomers have dug in their heels on aging. Look at sales of anti-aging skin products, which rose 13 percent from 2006 to 2008, to $1.6 billion, and are expected to jump an additional 20 percent by 2013. Improvements in products and the technology for their application also account for growth, along with a diversifying client base a third of spa-goers are now men, and younger people are beginning to “buy into” skin care regimens, says Katie Armitage, president of Associated Skin Care Professionals, a trade group.

skin care specialist

7. PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

Job Growth: 39 percent, or 29,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $85,000 mean; Connecticut, Nevada and Washington are top-paying states at $96,000-plus.

High health care costs and a shortage of doctors make P.A.’s cost effective. They free up physicians and can spend more time with patients. In some rural and inner-city areas they are the only provider. They are “absolutely one of the solutions to access to health care in this country,” says Justine Strand de Oliveira, who heads Duke University’s P.A. program, the oldest in the country.

physician assistant

6. MEDICAL SCIENTIST

Job Growth: 40 percent, or 44,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $84,760 mean; most jobs are in Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania, which have supportive academic and research institutions.

Overpopulation and increased international travel have quickened the spread of known diseases and given rise to new ones — think SARS, AIDS and avian flu — requiring new medicines and cures. The field’s big trend is the so-called bench to bedside movement or, more formally, translational science the search for practical applications for research that can move quickly to the marketplace.

med scientists

5. FINANCIAL EXAMINER

Job Growth: 41 percent, or 11,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $71,000 mean; the federal executive branch pays the most.

Implosions and scandals in the last few years involving the banking and insurance industries mean more companies are being scrutinized, internally and externally, and taking proactive steps to stay out of trouble.

financial examiner

4. PERSONAL AND HOME CARE AIDE

Job Growth: 46 percent, or 376,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $20,280 mean; psychiatric sector and government agencies pay the most.

Same duties as home health aides, minus the medically oriented tasks. No license required. On the job, though certificates from vocational schools may enhance employment opportunities.

Personal And Home Care Aide

3. HOME HEALTH AIDE

Job Growth: 50 percent, or 461,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $21,620 mean; up to $40,000 in affluent metropolitan areas

With our aging population, this field’s high rank should be no surprise. Demand already outstrips supply, says William Dombi, vice president at the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, and that seems unlikely to change. “Low pay and tough work,” he says, mean burnout, turnover and continual recruitment. But the job has its rewards for those with the desire to help people and the physical and emotional constitution to do it. It is also a way to test the waters for nursing school.

home health aid

2. NETWORK SYSTEMS AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS ANALYST

Job Growth: 53 percent, or 156,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $76,560 mean; $99,000 in top industries (rail transportation, natural gas); $105,000 in tech corridors like San Jose and Santa Clara, Calif.

The mobile data trend (smartphones, tablets) and “cloud computing” (subscription-based or pay-per-use services like apps and data storage) mean companies that scaled back I.T. departments in the 2008 economic downturn are hiring again.

data-communication

1. BIOMEDICAL ENGINEER

Job Growth: 72 percent, or 12,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $82,550 mean; $103,000 for scientific and technical consultants

Thank the quick clip of technological advances. Pharmaceutical and genomic industries, in particular, are “exploding,” says Helmut H. Strey, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Stony Brook University, which has about 100 students in its master’s degree and Ph.D. programs. It’s the fastest Growing career.