By Christina Orlovsky, senior staff writer
It’s a good time to work in health care, according to Money Magazine. The publication highlighted a handful of health care disciplines on this year’s list of best jobs, based on prospects, pay, stress levels and more.
Money paired with Internet career site Salary.com to rank careers on salary and job prospects, using data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. The two groups assembled a list of positions with above-average growth rate over the next 10 years. They looked only at jobs that require at least a bachelor’s degree, and eliminated jobs with average salary below $50,000; total employment of less than 15,000; dangerous work conditions; or fewer than 800 annual job openings.
Deciding factors also included stress levels, flexibility in work hours and work environment, creativity and ease of entry and advancement in the field.
Of the health care professionals selected for the top 50 positions, physician assistants received the highest ranking at number five. Reasons for the high ranking included a 50 percent growth over the next 10 years, an average of 4,000 annual job openings and an average salary of $75,000. Money also acknowledged the job’s “doctors’ work, bankers’ hours” as a professional plus. Career negatives included the fact that, although physician assistants are able to provide routine health care, they are never the ultimate decision makers on patient treatment.
Allied health care professionals included in the top 50 were physical therapists (no.12), acknowledged for a nearly 37 percent job growth and $54,883 average annual salary; occupational therapists (no. 32), with a 33.61 percent 10-year job growth and $51,973 annual salary; and lab technologists (no. 46), with a 20.53 percent 10-year job growth and $51,502 average annual salary.
Registered nurses squeezed into the top 50 in the 47th spot, with a projected 29.35 percent 10-year job growth and average annual salary of $68,872. According to the magazine’s data, 75 percent of registered nurses earn a salary of more than $62,071; 50 percent earn more than $68,560; and 25 percent earn more than $75,227.
Accounting for its low ranking are the grades registered nursing received for the four workplace characteristics: stress, D; flexibility, B; creativity, D; difficulty, C.
Still, job growth was a positive factor: By the year 2014, according to Money, there will be a total of 3,096,124 registered nurses employed in the United States, up from 2,393,559 in 2004.
For a complete list of the top 50 jobs, visit the Web site of Money Magazine.
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