While many Americans are quitting their jobs, demand for more skilled trade workers is growing, presenting opportunities for people who are interested in switching occupations or starting their careers strong.
"If home trades recognize the connection between what their trades offer and what workers are seeking during the Great Resignation, we could begin to see a narrative change around trade labor and start to reverse the labor shortages that have impacted the trades for years," Angi, a marketplace for home services, wrote in a recent report.
In addition to current opportunities, employment is projected to grow in many of these jobs from 2020 to 2030, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' employment projections.
Insider looked at what trades are projected to see the highest percent increases in employment between 2020 and 2030. We looked at trade occupations that fall into three groups on BLS: "construction and extraction occupations"; "installation, maintenance, and repair occupations"; and "production occupations."
We then sorted our list by projected percent change in employment from 2020 to 2030, with the highest percent increase as our No. 1. Based on this, wind turbine service technicians ranked at the top — employment is projected to grow 68.2%, or by 4,700 over the 10-year period.
We also included in the above ranking the median annual wage and typical education required for entering the occupation — both of which come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
BLS has eight different education levels for entry, including a high school diploma or equivalent. Another is postsecondary nondegree award, which BLS notes "these programs lead to a certificate or other award, but not a degree. The certificate is awarded by the educational institution and is the result of completing formal postsecondary schooling."
More information about how the pandemic affected the 2020 base year used to create the latest projections can be found in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' release of the employment projections.