January 20, 2015

School psychology, teaching among best jobs of 2015

In their annual rankings for “best jobs”, U.S. News has included school psychology, teaching, and school counseling as top careers to consider in 2015. For the second year in a row, school psychology was ranked the best social services career of the year.

For the third year in a row school psychology was named the #1 social services career (ranked #17 out of 100 overall) by U.S. News. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates job growth of 11.3 percent between 2012 and 2022. The expansion “comes from the increasing demands from students with learning disabilities, special needs and behavioral issues,” says the report.

Each year, U.S. News compiles and analyzes data from the BLS to rank occupations based on hiring demand, as well as factors including salary, future growth potential, stress, and work-life balance.

School job outlook very strong

Also high on the list were elementary school teacher (#3), high school teacher (#4), and middle school teacher (#5), and  and school counselor (#17). This represents a strong recovery from recent years, when teaching and other school-based positions had slipped down the rankings in response to widespread budget cuts. Job growth is predicated to be the strongest on the West coast.

Mental health jobs also highly ranked

Many mental health care positions were highly ranked based on job growth projections that are “growing at a faster clip than many other occupations.”

Job outlooks for mental health work are better across the board compared with 2014. Marriage and family therapist (#16) are expected to increase by 30.6 percent by 2022, and mental health counselor (#33) positions are expected to grow by 28.5 percent.On the list of best health care careers was substance abuse counselor (#22), which has a projected 31 percent employment growth rate. 

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