This story originally appeared on SmartAsset.
Older American workers have been disproportionately affected by not only the health impacts of COVID-19, but also its corresponding economic shock, which has deeply affected their ability to budget and save for their retirement.
In fact, workers 65 and older have seen some of the highest recent unemployment rates. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of April 2020 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that the unemployment rate was highest among workers in the youngest age cohort (ages 16 to 24) — at 27.4% — and next highest among workers in the oldest age cohort (ages 65 and older) — at 15.6%.
The BLS has not yet published data on how senior employment within specific occupations has changed during COVID-19, so this study investigated the employment trends among seniors leading up to 2020.
Specifically, we looked at the fastest-growing jobs for seniors.
Data for this report comes from the BLS’ Current Population Survey. We filtered out any occupation that employed fewer than 15,000 seniors in 2015 and any occupation with “other” or “miscellaneous” in the title due to lack of occupational specificity. We looked at the four-year percentage change in seniors employed in each occupation from 2015 to 2019, ranking the occupations from highest to lowest change.
Following were the fastest-growing jobs for seniors between 2015 and 2019.
1. Construction managers
Seniors employed in 2015: 34,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 77,000
Four-year change: 126%
2. Applications and systems software developers
Seniors employed in 2015: 25,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 56,000
Four-year change: 124%
3. Manual packers and packagers
Seniors employed in 2015: 18,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 34,000
Four-year change: 89%
4. Psychologists
Seniors employed in 2015: 22,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 41,000
Four-year change: 86%
5. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs
Seniors employed in 2015: 57,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 102,000
Four-year change: 79%
6. Counselors
Seniors employed in 2015: 47,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 78,000
Four-year change: 66%
7. General and operations managers
Seniors employed in 2015: 28,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 46,000
Four-year change: 64%
8. Computer programmers
Seniors employed in 2015: 15,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 24,000
Four-year change: 60%
9. Construction laborers
Seniors employed in 2015: 41,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 65,000
Four-year change: 59%
10. Human resources workers
Seniors employed in 2015: 23,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 35,000
Four-year change: 52%
11. Marketing and sales managers
Seniors employed in 2015: 30,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 45,000
Four-year change: 50%
12. Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (tie)
Seniors employed in 2015: 29,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 43,000
Four-year change: 48%
12. Artists and related workers (tie)
Seniors employed in 2015: 23,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 34,000
Four-year change: 48%
12. Electricians (tie)
Seniors employed in 2015: 23,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 34,000
Four-year change: 48%
15. Food preparation workers
Seniors employed in 2015: 30,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 44,000
Four-year change: 47%
16. Musicians, singers and related workers
Seniors employed in 2015: 28,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 41,000
Four-year change: 46%
17. Recreation and fitness workers (tie)
Seniors employed in 2015: 22,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 32,000
Four-year change: 45%
17. Shipping, receiving and traffic clerks (tie)
Seniors employed in 2015: 22,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 32,000
Four-year change: 45%
19. Librarians
Seniors employed in 2015: 18,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 26,000
Four-year change: 44%
20 Nursing, psychiatric and home health aides
Seniors employed in 2015: 93,000
Seniors employed in 2019: 132,000
Four-year change: 42%
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