Healthcare Will Dominate Hiring Over the Next Decade While AI Reshapes the Job Market
Finn's Take· TL;DR- Healthcare dominates hiring, accounting for 37% of all new jobs as an aging population drives demand for services like nursing practitioners.
- Overall job growth slows to 3.5% over the decade, but utilities surge due to AI data centers requiring massive electricity generation capacity.
- Tech roles remain strong despite AI fears, while administrative and sales jobs decline as automation and e-commerce reshape traditional employment.
A Slower Labor Market With White-Hot Pockets of Growth
The U.S. labor market is bracing for a decade of slower overall growth, but a handful of industries are set to expand at a breakneck pace, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From 2025 to 2035, total employment will edge up by 5.9 million jobs to 176.2 million — representing growth of just 3.5%, a fraction of the 10.9% pace seen during the prior decade. That headline number sounds modest, but buried inside it is a striking story about where those jobs are actually going — and who stands to benefit most.
Within this broader slowdown, distinct demographic and technological trends are creating concentrated pockets of high-demand hiring. Two forces are driving nearly all of the action: an aging American population that needs more medical care, and an AI boom that is simultaneously eliminating some jobs while creating urgent new demand in others.
Healthcare Is the Undisputed Giant
The healthcare and social assistance industry will expand employment by 2.2 million over the next decade. It will be the second-fastest hiring sector with a 9.5% growth rate and will account for 37% of all new jobs created through 2035. To put that in plain terms: more than one in three new jobs added to the entire U.S. economy over the next ten years will be in healthcare or social services.
The BLS attributed this surge to both the aging population and the increasing prevalence of chronic health conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Among individual occupations, nurse practitioners will see a 41% surge in employment, while medical and health services managers will jump 24%. Nurse practitioners, who typically earn six figures, are in such high demand partly because in many states they can now perform duties that used to be reserved for physicians.
AI Is Powering an Unexpected Jobs Boom in Energy
The utility industry is expected to hire at the fastest rate of any sector, growing employment by 9.8%, as hyperscalers scramble to build data centers that require immense amounts of electricity. The BLS noted that "nearly all the job growth is expected from electric power generation, transmission, and distribution due to increasing demand for electricity, including artificial intelligence power demands." Solar electric power generation is projected to grow by 153%, with wind generation not far behind.
Among the fastest-growing detailed occupations are data scientists, up 34.6%, while solar photovoltaic installers are projected to grow 36.5% and wind turbine service technicians 29.5%. Despite their fast projected growth, those two energy occupations combined are projected to add fewer than 15,000 new jobs by 2035 — a reminder that percentage growth and raw job creation are very different things.
Tech Holds Its Ground, While Some Sectors Face Losses
Despite fears that AI will wipe out employment in software and programming, tech talent will be in high demand. The professional, scientific, and technical services industry is projected to be the third-fastest growing sector, up 8.6%. Fast job growth in computer and mathematical occupations is expected to stem largely from the continued proliferation of digital tools and AI solutions across the economy, with data scientists and computer and information research scientists ranking among the top 10 fastest-growing detailed occupations.
Not every sector shares in the optimism — the office and administrative support sector will see a 4% drop, or 752,100 jobs, the most of any major occupational group. Sales and related occupations will fall by 1.4% as e-commerce expands and AI tools are incorporated further into business processes. As the BLS put it, "although the growing adoption of AI is expected to support demand for some occupations, associated productivity gains may dampen employment demand for others." The next decade won't simply be a rising tide — it will reward workers who position themselves in the right industries, with healthcare offering the most reliable and voluminous path forward.