With record-breaking layoffs hitting many industries due to COVID-19, many people are looking for a new job they can hold on to for a while. During strong job markets, people may be more open to taking a risk on a new, startup company, or a “cool” industry, knowing that if things fall through, another job is just around the corner. But in today’s tough job market, industries offering solid job security—including ones you might not have considered before—may suddenly be the “coolest” of all. There are three main factors that affect which industries or occupations have the best job security, including unemployment rates, industry or occupational growth, and “job tenure.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the US Department of Labor, lists the occupations with the lowest unemployment and Management (5%), computer and mathematics occupations (4.4%), legal (2.8%) and healthcare (3.8%) top the list for the lowest rates. (Many jobs with better security require more education, so continuing with school may not be a bad idea if you want better job security in future.)
When an industry is growing quickly, it can also create higher job security. The average industry growth rate is 0.5%, but for many years, healthcare has been one of the fastest growing industries (at 1.6%), along with computer systems, software, and data or information-related fields, education, and professional/scientific and technical services.
Lastly, you might focus on “job tenure”—or the length of time people stay at the same company. The average job tenure is 4.2 years, but some industries, like manufacturing, telecommunications, government and utilities, have much longer tenure. Looking at these three factors, here are some industries and jobs that may have the best job security.
Fast Growing Industries: Healthcare & Pharmaceutical
Healthcare has long been one of the fastest growing industries, and healthcare jobs—including entry-level jobs, such as health aides, as well as jobs requiring extensive training, like nurses, physician assistants, or physical therapists—make up more than half of the top 20 fastest-growing occupations. The global pharmaceutical market is also expected to grow 3-6% over the course of the next several years. As the population ages, and as people are faced with the long-term health consequences of COVID-19, healthcare needs are unfortunately likely to continue to grow. Exploring your career options across the spectrum of healthcare and health-related fields can help you discover a fulfilling long-term career path.
Check out some of the companies within this industry type that are currently hiring on RippleMatch:
Pfizer: Pfizer is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer’s global portfolio includes medicines and vaccines as well as many of the world’s best-known consumer health care products.
Roivant: Roivant is a tech-enabled biopharmaceutical company that aims to improve healthcare by rapidly delivering innovative medicines and technologies to patients.
GSK: GSK is a global healthcare company with three global businesses that research, develop and manufacture innovative pharmaceutical medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products.
Diverse and Meaningful Jobs: Government and Education
Government is one of the broadest sectors of employment, including a diverse range of jobs including K-12 teachers in public and charter schools, police and firefighters, policy analysts, diplomats, librarians, parks department staff, public health experts, scientists and more. If you like helping your fellow citizen, government can be a satisfying field to consider. Government is considered one of the most secure employment sectors, because governments can’t typically declare bankruptcy, government jobs are more likely to have union protection, and many of the jobs are considered essential for a functioning society.
Governments can still have layoffs—referred to as a “reduction in force”—and large-scale budget cuts due to reductions in tax revenues can cause layoffs in the sector. However, when there is a reduction in force, impacted staff may have first dibs on a new job within the government. Public sector workers had a median job tenure of 6.8 years—much longer than most, with federal agency workers being the longest at 8.3 years. Even though the government sector is not growing as fast as some other industries (federal government employment is expected to shrink by 0.5% through 2028) many government employees are expected to retire in the coming years, meaning jobs will open up to replace them.
Industries that Won’t Go Out of Style: Telecommunications, Insurance, Utilities, Energy, Logistics & Transportation
No matter what happens, certain things are always needed. Electricity, internet connectivity and cell phone service, insurance, and transportation of goods are unlikely to suddenly stop being important to most people, which might explain why utilities, telecommunications, finance & insurance, energy (mining/oil & gas extraction) have employees with above-average job tenure. While you might not have considered an industry like insurance, logistics, energy, or telecom before, there are countless opportunities across these industries for students from all majors, from liberal arts to engineering.
Check out some of the companies within this industry type that are currently hiring on RippleMatch:
Insurance:
PURE Insurance: PURE Insurance is a purpose-driven, member-owned organization providing comprehensive property & casualty insurance in the high net worth market.
Energy:
Baker Hughes: Baker Hughes is the leading energy technology company that designs, manufactures and services transformative technologies to help take energy forward.
Transportation & Logistics:
XPO Logistics: XPO provides cutting-edge supply chain solutions to the world’s most successful companies.
Telecommunications:
Ericsson: As the global leader in 5G and telecom technology, Ericsson is the partner of choice for the world’s top carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
Growing & Innovative Industries: Technology & Data
While technology companies don’t have perfect job security— the industry is constantly changing, there are many startups, and people need to keep their skills up to date to stay employed—the fast growth of the field means that jobs are likely to continue being available for people with the right skills. Many of the fastest-growing occupations are in tech or data related fields, including information security, statisticians, mathematicians, and software developers. Many companies within the tech industry also overlap with some of the other stable industries (like healthcare) included on this list, making this a great industry to look into for both technical roles (such as software engineer or data scientist) and non-technical roles (such as customer success or HR).
Check out some of the companies within this industry type that are currently hiring on RippleMatch:
Palo Alto Networks: Palo Alto Networks is the global cybersecurity leader, shaping the cloud-centric future with technology that is transforming the way people and organizations operate.
Esri: Esri technology brings meaning to maps by blending the science of geography with the technology of GIS.
Qualtrics: Qualtrics is the leading experience management software that empowers companies to capture and act on customer, product, brand & employee experience insights in one place.
In our changing world, no job is ever entirely secure. That said, you can increase your chances of having job stability by evaluating industries based on growth, unemployment rates, and job tenure. Inform your search through data, and keep an open mind as you learn about new industries and what they have to offer.
