U.S. employment is projected to grow by 5.9 million jobs over the next decade. The greater challenge is helping people and employers navigate where demand is changing.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that total employment will grow 3.5% between 2025 and 2035, adding about 5.9 million jobs. Growth will be uneven. Healthcare occupations are expected to expand substantially, while office and administrative support occupations are projected to lose jobs.
For workforce professionals, the projections are more than a list of promising careers. They offer a starting point for conversations with job seekers, workers, educators, trainers, and employers about how work is changing.
Healthcare accounts for a large share of new jobs
Healthcare support employment is projected to grow 13.3%, adding about 1.1 million jobs. Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are projected to grow 8.0%, adding roughly 820,000. Together, those two groups account for nearly one-third of projected net job growth through 2035. BLS points to an aging population and continuing demand for health services as major drivers.
That creates work across the workforce field. Career professionals can help people understand the range of healthcare roles and entry requirements. Training providers can examine whether their programs lead to jobs available locally. Employer-facing professionals can ask healthcare organizations where hiring and retention remain difficult—and whether a training program alone would solve the problem.
Technology is changing demand in both directions
Computer and mathematical occupations are projected to grow 7.3%, adding about 403,000 jobs. BLS expects wider use of digital tools and AI to support demand in this group. At the same time, office and administrative support employment is projected to fall 4.0%, a decline of about 752,000 jobs. Automation, including AI tools, is one factor BLS expects to reduce demand for some office roles.
These projections do not mean every office job will disappear or every technology job will be easy to enter. They do suggest a useful question for workforce professionals to ask employers: Which tasks are changing, and what skills will workers need to perform the work that remains? BLS notes that technology can change an occupation’s tasks even when its overall employment does not change.
Growth rates do not tell the whole story
Some occupations can grow quickly without creating many jobs. BLS projects rapid growth for solar photovoltaic installers and wind turbine service technicians, for example, but expects the two occupations together to add fewer than 15,000 jobs nationwide over the decade.
Before recommending a career path or expanding a program, workforce professionals need to look beyond the percentage. How many openings are likely in the local area? What do those jobs pay? What training or experience do employers require? Can people realistically enter and advance in the field?
It also helps to distinguish net job growth from job openings. An occupation can have openings when workers retire or move to other occupations even if its total employment is projected to decline. A falling employment projection should prompt closer investigation, not an automatic decision to stop helping people enter that field.
What professionals can do now
The projections are a reason to update career guidance, check training programs against local demand, and bring more specific questions into employer conversations. For people in occupations facing slower growth or decline, the immediate task is to identify which of their skills transfer and where a manageable amount of additional training could open another path.
These are national, long-term projections—not a prediction of hiring in any particular community next month. BLS cautions that its estimates depend on assumptions and carry uncertainty. State and local data, current openings, and direct employer input are needed to turn the national picture into practical decisions.
The most valuable question may be less about which occupation tops a growth ranking and more about how to help people move as work changes. That is a question every part of the workforce profession can help answer.
Projected U.S. Employment Change by Occupational Group, 2025–2035
All occupations: +3.5%. Source: [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025–2035 occupational projections](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/total-employment-projected-to-grow-3-5-percent-between-2025-and-2035.htm) and the [full employment projections release](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecopro_08272026.htm).