How we picked the Best Jobs
Industry Screen
- MONEY and compensation experts PayScale.com used Bureau of Labor Statistics growth forecasts for 7,000 jobs, and identified industries with the biggest increases in jobs requiring bachelor’s degrees. Ranked them by 2008-18 growth and pay.
- Cut jobs if at least 20% of workers are not in a high-growth industry.
- Kept fast-growing jobs that are not specific to any single industry.
Job Screen
- Starting with jobs that require at least a bachelor’s degree, eliminated those projected to grow less than 10% from 2008 to 2018.
- Cut jobs with median pay below $60,000 for experienced workers (except certain highgrowth titles).
- Eliminated jobs with fewer than 10,000 positions nationwide.
Final Ranking
- Incorporated data from a PayScale survey in which 40,000 workers rated their jobs on quality-of-life factors such as stress and flexibility and short- and long-term employment outlook.
- Ranked titles using median pay for seasoned workers, industry and job growth, ease of entry, and estimated employment.
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From the November 2010 issue