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Examining the growth of employment and wages in occupational areas can provide useful insight into labor market trends. Those trends can reinforce or raise questions about the long-term projections provided in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbooks.

In New York State, 14 occupational areas grew faster than the statewide average for the 2014-2017 period. Nine of those areas also saw faster median wage growth than the state average. Three of those occupations had larger than state-median employment and required at least a Bachelor’s Degree: Business and financial operations; Healthcare practitioners & technicians; and, Management. Only one occupational area had more than median employment, experienced faster employment and wage growth than the state average, and did not typically require a Bachelor’s Degree: Construction & extraction.

Large occupational areas with faster employment growth but slower wage growth were typically found in food and support-related areas. Those occupational areas were: Food preparation and serving; Healthcare support; Personal care and service; and, Transportation and material moving.

For purposes of benchmarking, median employment by occupational area in New York State was 330,415 in 2017 and the median annual wage was $43,960.