The Bureau of Labor Statistics creates a listing of job titles, average salary, number of jobs, and projections. Their taxonomy groups people into 750 job title categories, in some odd groupings.
Few categories are set to show declines, particularly in any job type even vaguely related to the IT field. There are a few exceptions, but these tend to be positions operating a computer rather than knowledge-work. What I found interesting is that the only place I’ve seen reference to these positions is in obsolete thrift-store computer books from the ’80s, where these are commonly listed as career paths in IT once one learns Turbo Pascal or Fortran.
| Occupation | Employment (in thousands) |
Employment change, 2010-2020 |
Percent self- employed, 2010 |
Job openings due to growth and replacement needs, 2010-2020 (in thousands) |
2010 median annual wage (in dollars) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | 2010 | 2020 | Number (in thousands) |
Percent | |||
| Total, All Occupations | 143,068.2 | 163,537.1 | 20,468.9 | 14.3 | 7.8 | 54,787.4 | 33,840 |
| Data Entry Keyers | 234.7 | 218.8 | -15.9 | -6.8 | 1.8 | 41.2 | 27,450 |
| Computer Operators | 86.4 | 78.9 | -7.4 | -8.6 | 1.5 | 8.3 | 36,930 |
| Word Processors and Typists | 115.3 | 102.1 | -13.2 | -11.5 | 7.7 | 6.7 | 33,400 |
The BLS projects jobs related to computer hardware to grow at a much slower pace than software jobs, an unsurprising, but striking trend. Also fascinating is number of self-employed engineers is significantly lower than average, suggesting that freelancing is not as common as one might think, or that people change titles when becoming self-employed, due to increased responsibilities.
| Occupation | Employment (in thousands) |
Employment change, 2010-2020 |
Percent self- employed, 2010 |
Job openings due to growth and replacement needs, 2010-2020 (in thousands) |
2010 median annual wage (in dollars) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | 2010 | 2020 | Number (in thousands) |
Percent | |||
| Total, All Occupations | 143,068.2 | 163,537.1 | 20,468.9 | 14.3 | 7.8 | 54,787.4 | 33,840 |
| Computer Programmers | 363.1 | 406.8 | 43.7 | 12 | 5.6 | 128.0 | 71,380 |
| Software Developers, Applications | 520.8 | 664.5 | 143.8 | 27.6 | 2.3 | 197.9 | 87,790 |
| Software Developers, Systems Software | 392.3 | 519.4 | 147.2 | 32.4 | 2.3 | 168.0 | 94,180 |
| Computer Hardware Engineers | 70.0 | 76.3 | 6.3 | 9.0 | 1.3 | 22.9 | 98,810 |
| Electrical Engineers | 154.0 | 164.7 | 10.7 | 7.0 | 2.2 | 47.8 | 84,540 |
Individuals with overlapping tasks often have very different titles, for instance, a Graphic Designer and Software Engineer might both be proficient in Javascript. Contrary to the attention it is receiving in popular culture, the BLS does not see much potential for being a 3-D printer operator (row 4) but “Big Data” fits well with the last row, and it pays very well. Personally, I wish more people became DBAs (we’re hiring!) and it looks like growth in that field is strong.
| Occupation | Employment (in thousands) |
Employment change, 2010-2020 |
Percent self- employed, 2010 |
Job openings due to growth and replacement needs, 2010-2020 (in thousands) |
2010 median annual wage (in dollars) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | 2010 | 2020 | Number (in thousands) |
Percent | |||
| Total, All Occupations | 143,068.2 | 163,537.1 | 20,468.9 | 14.3 | 7.8 | 54,787.4 | 33,840 |
| Database Administrators | 110.8 | 144.8 | 33.9 | 30.6 | 1.6 | 52.7 | 73,490 |
| Network and Computer Systems Administrators | 347.2 | 443.8 | 96.6 | 27.8 | 0.8 | 155.3 | 69,160 |
| Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic | 16.6 | 18.3 | 1.8 | 10.8 | n/a | 4.9 | 45,900 |
| Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic | 16.6 | 18.3 | 1.8 | 10.8 | n/a | 4.9 | 45,900 |
| Graphic Designers | 279.2 | 316.5 | 37.3 | 13.4 | 29.4 | 123.8 | 43,500 |
| Computer and Information Research Scientists | 28.2 | 33.5 | 5.3 | 18.7 | 6.0 | 10.6 | 100,660 |
| Information Security Analysts, Web Developers, and Computer Network Architects | 302.3 | 367.9 | 65.7 | 21.7 | 17.1 | 110.3 | 75,660 |