Best Jobs for 2009 and Beyond

Although we are currently still seeing higher unemployment numbers than in recent years due to the current economic downturn (anybody else out there ready for a switch to new terminology including the phrase economic upturn? I know I am!) there are still some areas that look like they will be strong this year and that will continue to grow in coming years.

I read an interesting article by Rachel Zupek today that gave some interesting facts and figures about what she thinks we can anticipate in the job market.

"The labor force is expected to increase by 12.8 million workers over the 2006 -2016 period, according to the BLS. Total employment is expected to increase by 10 percent to 166.2 million over that period as well, while an estimated 15.6 million jobs will be added by 2016. While that year seems like a long way off today, a certain number of new jobs will be added each year leading up to 2016 -- including in 2009. "

We will see growth in some areas that are new and some that have been strong in the past will decline. The landscape will look different however the important thing is overall growth. It may require some adaptability, however since the average person already changes careers several times in their working life, this shouldn't be a news to anyone.

So what are the trends looking like?

Here are 10 of the best jobs anticipated based on the jobs that saw growth in the second half of 2008.

Best jobs:
1. Public relations manager
2. Purchasing agent
3. Claims adjuster, appraiser, examiner and investigator
4. Human resources, training and labour relations specialist
5. Budget analyst

Industry: Professional and related occupations
Best jobs:
6. Computer programmer
7. Electrical and electronics engineer
8. Editor and writer
9. pharmacist
10. audiologist

There are several good free salary calculators on the web if you are interested in any of these careers and want to have a look at the general salary average that can be expected. These are some of the growth areas and if you look a bit closer you can see that may of them are related to the current demographic trends (audiologist, pharmacist) and to the advances in technology that are continually progressing (computer programming). If your really interested in where things are going to go with the job market demographic and consumer trends are a great place to start. You might not be able to tell the future but you will be able to make an educated guess at where you will want to be in the next 5 to 10 years.