200,000 More Jobs Added In Summer 2024, In These U.S. Industries

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its well-anticipated Employment Situation Summary report, focusing on significant U.S. employment trends and factors that impact the economy and job market for the second quarter of the year.

Out of all the findings of the release, perhaps one of the most intriguing was its analysis of industries in which there was shown to be significant job growth, as well as sectors in which there has been little to no difference in employment within the United States.

Notably, there are four core industries which have experienced significant uptake in the number of vacancies being added to the job market, as of June 2024.

Why You Should Care

Knowing what these industries are can be beneficial for a couple of reasons:

To begin with, knowing what industries are currently witnessing the most growth can help you make an informed decision for the next steps in your career, especially if you’re not sure where to go next.

You can decide to make a career pivot, or take your existing career and move over to a more in-demand industry, based on the data. Knowing which industries are adding the most job vacancies in the United States will help you identify where the greatest opportunities lie, so that you can focus your job search on these high-growth industries and increase your chances of finding vacancies and securing steady employment more quickly.

Additionally, it is useful to check out trends for these industries to assess if there is a pattern of continued upward growth. If, through your research, you notice that these sectors have been high-performing (in terms of adding job vacancies) for several quarters or years, then you have identified an area of strong career growth, potential, and career stability. This is usually simultaneous with high earnings as well.

Industries With High Job Growth In Summer 2024

Now let’s discover what these four high-growth industries in the U.S. are, as of June 2024, according to the BLS report:

1. Government

“Government employment rose by 70,000 in June, higher than the average monthly gain of 49,000 over the prior 12 months,” notes BLS. “Over the month, employment increased in local government, excluding education (+34,000) and in state government (+26,000).”

Local government jobs can be widely varied, touching on all sorts of interesting careers, and include roles such as city planner, public health nurse, police officer, building inspector, librarian, and traffic engineer.

Many of these roles pay exceptionally well, especially when you take into consideration the fact that some government and public sector roles do not even require a degree.

2. Healthcare

Meanwhile, “healthcare added 49,000 jobs in June, lower than the average monthly gain of 64,000 over the prior 12 months.” However within the month of June, specific sectors within healthcare took off as far as employment is concerned. Job growth spiked in ambulatory health care services and hospitals, which grew by the same figure of +22,000 respectively.

Some popular roles within hospitals and ambulatory healthcare include:

• Registered nurse (RN) which you can land without a bachelor’s degree (average salary $88,140)
• Medical biller and coder (average salary $44,064)
• Radiologic technologist (average salary $67,101)
• Occupational therapist (average salary $99,208)

3. Social Assistance

The third industry to experience a surge in job postings this summer is social assistance, with roles increasing by 34,000 in June, as opposed to the monthly average of 22,000 over the past year.

Particularly, individual and family services have seen the most growth in demand, with an extra 26,000 jobs added to the market. This presents a valuable opportunity to you if you enjoy working with people, families, and young people and children, especially serving those who are at risk and vulnerable.

4. Construction

Finally, the construction industry seems to have really taken off with a strong demand this summer, adding an extra 7,000 jobs on top of its usual monthly 20,000 in June.

The construction industry is often underappreciated, but it is the cornerstone of day-to-day living, contributes to a booming commercial and residential real estate market, and provides several career paths up the ladder—with quite a few high-paying roles that are available to you even if you do not have a bachelor’s degree, such as construction project manager, for example.

Altogether, these four industries added a collective 200,000 job vacancies this summer 2024, significantly boosting the economy and reducing unemployment in these key areas. Perhaps it would be worth taking time now to start considering which of these sectors attracts you the most, and where you would envision yourself and your career in any of these industries.