Today's Most Unpopular Jobs -- An Opportunity to Make Big Money?

Here's a report from Career Builder listing jobs that will experience a shortage of qualified workers in the years to come. Here are five that they expect to be hit particularly hard:

1. Registered Nurse

2. Machinist

3. Librarian

4. Truck Driver

5. Pharmacist

But the fact that there are shortages in these positions means that there could be opportunities for the right group of people. If society values these positions, but fewer people are willing/wanting to hold them, this means average salaries should rise to incent people to enter these professions. As such, people who may not thought of any of these as viable career options may do so now in hopes of earning a better salary.

Three of the jobs offer decent salaries already. Again from the article:

• The starting salary for registered nurses was nearly $39,000 in an April 2005 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. According to the BLS, median annual salaries were $53,640 in November 2004.
• Graduates of library programs in 2004 reported an average starting salary of more than $39,000, an increase of nearly 3 percent over the previous year. The median salary for librarians is nearly $47,000, according to the BLS.
• Universities are opening new pharmacy programs and expanding existing ones. The high pay currently offered by pharmacist employers can't hurt, either. The BLS reports the median salary for pharmacists is over $87,000. (FYI, I've written about this before.)

The other two, don't offer much financial incentive:

• According to the Princeton Review, the average starting salary for a machinist is $22,500. The median salary for machinists is just over $34,000, according to the BLS.
• The report blames slipping wages for the shortage. Trucking wages fell sharply with the onset of the recession in 2000 and have yet to recover. According to the BLS, the median salary for heavy or tractor-trailer truck drivers is $33,870.

Still, if society/business does value these jobs, pay will increase -- which may mean this is an opportunity for you, a friend, a relative, a son or daughter, etc. to enter one of these professions to increase your income.

Food for thought.

FMF recommends Emigrant Direct.

Comments

[Olivia]

I find it interesting that Pharmacist is listed in the top 5. I'm constantly in contact with UC Berkeley undergraduates and many of them are interested in becoming pharmacists.

[colton cook UTAH]

Registered Nurse?? really? then why is there a 5 year waiting list to become an RN?? sounds like its a very Popular job.. im not challenging your survey, i know you know more than i do .. just curious about where the survey results come from

[Eric Sapp Washington]

i dont know if i believe this survey.. Pharmacist, Nurses?? Anything in the MEdical Field has a lot of competition and is very popular.

[Erika]

One of the biggest reasons there are waiting lists for RN education is that there is a huge shortage of colleges and professors that offer/teach these courses. RN's who work in hospitals make decent salaries but (go figure), those who educate us do not...also, RN education is a costly offering for most colleges due to equipment, dissection, insurance, and a constantly changing technological and information system knowledge base, to name just a few other reasons...also, nursing is a rigorous discipline and not the wiping of brows and flirting with doctors so inaccurately depicted in the media. It is a physically and mentally challenging career and people should know this before applying for admission to a program!

[af]

where did this survay take place