Error
Print this page
Thursday, 20 February 2014 09:07

Healthcare Dominates Best Jobs for 2014 Featured

Written by 
Rate this item
(0 votes)

post 81 picI love year-end lists:  best movies, richest people, most popular books… 

That’s why when U.S. News and World Report put out “The 100 Best Jobs for 2014”, I was all over it.  I’ll admit to wanting to assure myself that my technology skills would still be in demand, but what surprised me was both the volume and placement of healthcare positions.

While technology jobs hold on to the first and second ranking on the list (#1 software developer, #2 computer systems analyst) the #3 best job for 2014 was a bit of a shock – dentist.  I felt a certain pride in counting nine tech related jobs in the top 100 but this was completely eclipsed by no less than 37 healthcare related occupations.  

The list included all aspects of healthcare with physicians (#8), various nurses (#4, #6, #38, #81), pharmacicsts (#5), various therapists (#7, #14, #21, #27, #32), lab techs, surgical techs, pharmacy techs and radiologic techs.  Dental skills were covered rather thoroughly with #3 being the dentist, #10 being the hygienist and #66 being the dental assistant.

U.S. News and World Report is not a novice at making these kinds of lists.  If you look on their website, they have an entire section of lists.  Just scroll to the bottom of their home page and you will find a section called “Rankings and Research”. 

They cover everything from best colleges to best vacations.  This is a very credible source, but it is worth a look at what the best job rankings are based on.

They look at seven aspects of a job and weight these as to their value for “best” consideration to determine the order.  Here are the seven criteria and their accompaning weight.

1.    10-Year Growth Volume (10%) – How many of these jobs will be in demand?
2.    10-Year Growth Percentage (10%) – Growth compared to the total of these positions currently in the market.
3.    Median Salary (30%) – A high weighting but certainly one related to “best”.
4.    Job Prospects (20%) – Will there be open positions available in 2014?
5.    Employement Rate (20%) – Is employment stable and not subject to cycles or layoffs?
6.    Stress Level (5%) – If a “best” job comes at the price of high stress, then maybe its not the best.  
7.    Work-Life Balance (5%) – Being able to find the appropriate balance between work and life will make the job better.  

So why is healthcare so dominant for 2014 best jobs? 

It has to do with the expected influx of 30 million consumers as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). 

It is anticipated that these people who have previously not had healthcare will be looking for practitioners of all kinds and at all levels.

Will this list prove true in the coming year?  The high rankings of healthcare augurs well for dentistry and should be a right click for everyone in the industry.

.

Read 2533 times Last modified on Thursday, 27 February 2014 10:37
Bill Hockett

Latest from Bill Hockett

Related items

Login to post comments