The Indicator from Planet Money Which jobs are future-proofed?
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May 8, 2026 They flip through the Occupational Outlook Handbook to see which jobs are projected to grow or shrink. They highlight fast-growing roles like nurse practitioners, solar installers and wind techs. They explain how the BLS makes and checks its forecasts and why trend continuation helps predictions. They test the handbook’s accuracy and answer a listener’s career concern.
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How The BLS Forecasts Job Growth
- The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects job futures by extending historical trends and adjusting for emerging changes like technology and demographics.
- Sarah Mattson explained they start with population and aging trends, extrapolate industry historical growth, then tweak estimates for new forces such as AI or renewable energy.
Cybersecurity TA Relies On BLS For Career Counseling
- Listener Asa Hess-Matsumoto, an application security engineer and GA Tech TA, uses the Occupational Outlook Handbook for concrete stats like median wage and projected growth.
- He finds data points such as $125,000 median wage and 29% projected growth for information security analysts persuasive when advising students.
Top Growing Jobs Include Wind Techs And Solar Installers
- Darian and Waylon list top projected growth jobs: nurse practitioner, solar photovoltaic installer, and wind turbine service technician.
- Waylon recalls climbing a wind turbine for a show segment, illustrating demand for those hands-on green-energy roles.