If you want a job in a growing field with high pay and low stress, you should probably like math, numbers and data.
Five of the 10 best jobs for 2019 — based on income, anticipated growth rate, work environment and stress — are in mathematical sciences, according to a new report released by CareerCast.com.
The ranking shows not only continued demand for workers with a STEM background — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — but also widespread need by companies for help sorting the massive amounts of data they collect.
“STEM fields have pretty much consistently been at the top of these reports, but the numbers aspect is interesting because so many industries need those positions,” said Kyle Kensing, online content editor at CareerCast.
The annual report, released Tuesday, comes amid the strongest labor market in 50 years. With the unemployment rate at 3.6%, there are more job openings than there are people looking for work.
By comparison, 10 years ago in the midst of the Great Recession, there was one opening for every 6.2 unemployed job seekers, according to government data.
All of the top 10 positions on CareerCast’s new ranking require at least a bachelor’s degree. The top-ranked job is data scientist, which comes with a median salary of $118,370 and a growth outlook of 19% from 2016 to 2026. Coming in second is statistician, which has a median $88,190 salary and is expected to grow at a 33% clip in that 10-year period.
“It’s about our work being based online,” Kensing said. “There’s more data out there than ever before.
“Things like consumption habits, trends in the workplace, or in health care going from paper records to cloud-based data — all that data needs to be interpreted.”