BLS Forecasts Fastest-Growing Jobs

By Lauren Weber

Plotting a new career move? New forecasts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics may provide clues about the fastest-growing fields this decade.

Assuming a full-employment economy with an unemployment rate of 5.2% by 2020, the BLS expects total U.S. employment to rise 14.3% over the current decade, resulting in 20.5 million new jobs. The projections are based on expected labor force participation, the assumed unemployment rate and estimated housing starts, among other factors.

Much of that growth – more than 2 million positions – will come from low-paid openings for home health aides (mean annual wages of $21,760) personal care aides -- people who look after the elderly and infirm but do not administer medications (mean annual wages of $20,420) and retail salespeople (mean annual wages $25,000).

Registered nursing, the occupation expected to add the most jobs -- 712,000 -- offers a bright spot, with mean annual wages of $67,720 in 2010.

Read more in The Wall Street Journal.