The 10 Fastest Growing Jobs in America

Anyone who's tested the job market at any point since 2008 understands that getting a job these days is a lot tougher than the pre-recession period. Companies have been considerably more skittish about overspending and expanding their business, which means far fewer top-notch jobs available than the unemployed would like to see.

As evidence, I point to the holy grail of all jobs data sources, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS.

Without question, the labor markets' most prized barometer, the unemployment rate, has shown a dramatic improvement from the height of the recession, when we saw the unemployment rate hit 10%. As of December 2013, the unemployment rate is now down to 6.7%.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

However, much of the improvement we've seen has come from a number of folks dropping out of the labor force, either through retirement, the desire to go back to college, or simply from being discouraged about finding work. In fact, between July 2008 and December 2013, there has been a decline in the number of total nonfarm payroll jobs based on BLS data. Furthermore, the average duration of unemployment has more than doubled in less than six years from 17 weeks to 37 weeks, discouraging unemployed workers from quickly finding another job.

The good news is that, according to the BLS' decades of data and thorough research, there are a number of occupations which are projected to see incredible jobs growth over the coming decade.

The BLS's employment projections (link opens a PDF), which were released in December, factor in projected jobs growth from 2012 to 2022. Overall expectations call for 15.63 million jobs to be created, a 10.8% improvement from 2012 with a number of occupational industries forecast to exceed expectations, as well as a number of occupational quagmires.

The 10 fastest growing jobs in America
Today, I want to focus on BLS's data of where the greatest opportunity will be over the next 10 years. In other words, the 10 fastest growing jobs over the next decade! Not only would targeting one of these fields be beneficial when it comes to finding work, but high-job-growth fields can often give us clues as investors as to which sectors we should be targeting with our money.

Here are the 10 fastest growing jobs over the next decade:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Right away there are some clear standouts and similarities.

Perhaps the most prevailing theme of the 10 jobs on the list is the expected job growth in the health-care sector. This growth isn't much of a surprise, with baby boomers starting to hit retirement age at the start of this decade, and a surge in health needs long foreseen before the beginning of this decade.

Source: NHS Employers, Flickr.

Job growth, however, has a chance of really taking off in the health-care industry with the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which you probably know better as Obamacare. As Medicaid coverage is expanded in about half of U.S. states, and the individual mandate requires citizens to purchase health insurance, there's a good likelihood that more preventative visits will result in even greater need for health services. Therefore, don't be shocked to find that seven of the top 10 fastest growing occupations are dominated by the health-care industry.

But health care alone won't drive jobs growth. Another sector set to see a rapid uptick in jobs growth is construction, noted by the rapid forecasted rise in insulation workers as well as specialty brick, block, and stonemasons. Like health care, this one is sort of a no-brainer. As the population in the U.S. expands, the need for housing, whether it be standard homes or apartment rental communities and condos, is only going to rise, creating ample opportunity for specialization within this industry.

The final occupation represented on the list also makes a lot of sense on paper. The Internet has largely broken down economic borders over the past couple of decades and made global international trade a reality for a number of countries. This means dealing with clients domestically, as well as overseas, which is why there's a growing need for interpreters and translators.

"Great, so how does this help me invest better?"
The data might seem like a jumbled mess to some readers, but it's actually a roadmap for where investment dollars are likely to be headed over the coming decade. This means investments focused on the health-care or construction industries could be a smart move.

Within the health-care sector, and utilizing the seven occupations tied to the health-care sector, any company catering to at-home, personal care, or physical therapy/rehabilitation could make for an intriguing investment opportunity.

Hospitals are one such source of growth, especially with the expansion of insurance coverage under Obamacare. One that has repeatedly caught my attention is Select Medical , an operator of hospitals as well as rehabilitation and physical therapy facilities throughout the United States. Select Medical recently began paying out a dividend that currently tops 3%, which speaks to the likelihood that its cash flow should remain steady moving forward.

Medical-products suppliers may be another source of growth. Ultimately, a greater need for health-care jobs should result in greater medical-products usage. A company I'd suggest keeping your eyes on here is Teleflex , a developer of single-use medical products ranging from common diagnostic items to products used complex clinical procedures. As baby boomers age, diagnostic testing is going to become crucial to personalizing their care, so Teleflex looks well positioned to succeed moving forward.

In construction, there are two ways to approach this, with the understanding that skilled and specific laborers are likely going to reap the rewards. One would be to focus on a company that specializes in a specific aspect of construction. Here I'm partial to a company like Lumber Liquidators , which specializes in various types of flooring. What makes Lumber Liquidators so unique is that it can actively market to consumers and contracting clients at the same time, making a pitch for the small-business customer while also satisfying residential customers. That ability to hit both spectrums, along with its low prices, should keep it among the markets top performers.

The other option is to look at things from a more macroeconomic perspective and just expect construction in general to rise. If that were the case, it could be the perfect scenario for a tools maker like Stanley Black & Decker , which would be expected to benefit from higher sales of tools to both consumers and enterprise customers if overall construction levels improve. Based on the BLS's major occupational levels, construction ranks third in terms of quickest growth rate over the next decade, so Stanley Black & Decker's sales could be on the cusp of soaring.

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The article The 10 Fastest Growing Jobs in America originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends Lumber Liquidators. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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