December 06, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Fastest growing industries, 2000-2010

According to BLS projections, computer and data processing services will be the industry with the fastest job growth in the period 2000-2010.

The 10 industries with fastest growth of wage and salary employment, 2000-2010 (percent change)
[Chart data—TXT]

Firms in the computer and data processing services industry provide prepackaged and specialized software, data and computer systems design and management, and various computer-related consulting services. Employment in this industry is projected to increase by 86 percent between 2000 and 2010, while overall employment is projected to grow by only 15 percent.

Residential care is projected to be the second most rapidly growing industry, with an employment increase of 64 percent. Residential care encompasses homes for the elderly, emotionally disabled, and the handicapped, in addition to orphanages, halfway homes, and rehabilitation centers.

These data are from the BLS Employment Projections program. These data on employment by industry are for wage and salary workers. For more information, see "Industry output and employment projections to 2010," by Jay M. Berman, Monthly Labor Review, November 2001. (The BLS employment projections for the period 2000-2010 were completed prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. BLS will continue to review its projections and, as the long-term consequences of September 11 become clearer, will incorporate these effects in subsequent analyses of industrial and occupational outlook.)

Related TED articles:

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

Find out more about the story of TED