Here’s New Jersey’s Fastest Growing Job

On the heels of a strong jobs report in January, a new report published Monday by Yahoo Finance has identified the fastest growing job every state. In New Jersey, it’s apparently solar panel installer. The author reviewed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and projections from Projections Managing Partnership to determine the fastest growing job in every state.

Among the most obvious trends nationwide is that environment and sustainability jobs are growing like weeds. Solar panel installers were the fastest growing job in eight states — California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Minnesota and New Jersey. Wind turbine technician was the fastest growing job in several midwestern states: Texas, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.

According to the report, in 2017, the occupation saw a median pay of $18.98 per hour, or $39,490 per year. It’s projected to grow 105% by 2026, which is significantly faster than the national rate.

Meanwhile, derrick operator, referring to the person who rigs drilling framework over oil and gas wells, was the fastest growing in North Dakota and Oklahoma. Oil, gas or mining service operator was fastest growing in Kansas.

Another interesting trend is the rise of statisticians in the workforce. Statisticians, who earn a median yearly salary of $84,060, crunch numbers to improve processes and make data usable. It was the fastest-growing job in four states Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky and Massachusetts.

Some states in the report had much more unique — and niche — jobs.

In Arizona, the fastest-growing job was patternmaker. In Oregon it was animal trainer. Other distinctive jobs include costume attendant in Georgia, exhibit designer in Idaho, nuclear medicine technologist in West Virginia and credit counselor in Michigan.

The report comes on the heels of a the Labor Department’s analysis of America’s employment situation for 2019, which found that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 304,000 in January. That’s up from the average gain of 223,000 jobs per month. Job gains were seen in several industries, including leisure and hospitality, construction, health care, transportation, and warehousing.

Furthermore, wages grew by 3.2 percent and even higher for nonmanagerial workers, according to CNBC. The news had Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies, raving about the “scorching” labor market.

"If you look at the payroll data, the economy continues to pound out job growth. Wage growth is for real," he told CNBC.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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