Employment is projected to grow by 11.5 million from 2016 through 2026, according to the latest projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday.
Over the course of this decade, employment is expected to grow from 156,100,000 to 167,600,000, an increase of 0.7 percent. This is greater than the 0.5 percent growth seen in the previous decade from 2006 through 2016, which included the recession that began in December 2007.
About one-third of the new jobs will be those in health care and social assistance, which will add about 4 million jobs to the economy over the next decade. Wage and salary employment over the next decade in this sector is expected to increase by 1.9 percent.
"Healthcare support occupations (23.2 percent) and healthcare practitioners and technical occupations (15.2 percent) are projected to be among the fastest growing occupational groups during the 2016-26 projections decade," the report explains. "These two occupational groups—which account for 14 of the 30 fastest growing occupations from 2016 to 2026—are projected to contribute about one-fifth of all new jobs by 2026."
In addition to the health care sector, employment in the service sector is expected to add 10.5 million jobs over the next decade, or an increase of 0.8 percent growth. In the goods-producing sector, 219,000 more jobs are expected to be added.
While employment in 654 occupations is expected to grow, there are other occupations that will see a decline. The bureau projects that over the next decade the annual rate of change for wage and salary employment in the federal government will decline by 0.2 percent and manufacturing will decline by 0.6 percent.
The bureau also estimates gross domestic product will increase at an annual rate of 2 percent over the next decade, which is greater than the 1.4 percent growth seen in the last decade. Contributing to increasing GDP growth is increasing labor productivity, which is defined as economic performance that compares worker's output with the number of hours they worked. Labor productivity is expected to increase by 1.6 percent over the next decade.
"The projected figures for job creation over the next decade is a good indication that President Trump's current policies are having a net positive effect on the U.S. economy," said Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network. "Recent walk-backs of intrusive government regulations are freeing up the ability of businesses—big and small—to expand and become a stronger economic root of their communities. Current efforts to pass small business and middle class tax cuts will advance this trend even further—allowing Main Street to once again become the driving force of the American economy."