December 29, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Occupations with the largest growth, 1998-2008

According to BLS projections, systems analysts will be the occupation recording the largest job growth between 1998 and 2008, with 577,000 additional positions.

[Chart data—TXT]

In addition to systems analysts, three other occupations are projected to add over half a million jobs—the number of retail salespersons is projected to expand by 563,000, cashiers by 556,000, and general managers and top executives by 551,000.

Rounding out the top ten occupations with the largest growth are truck drivers, general office clerks, registered nurses, computer support specialists, personal care and home health aides, and teacher assistants. Note that the majority of these ten occupations are concentrated in the service sector.

These data are a product of the Employment Projections program. Find out more in "Occupational employment projections to 2008," by Douglas Braddock, Monthly Labor Review, November 1999.