Jobs in healthcare are among the best paid in the U.S as the market saw modest growth in Q2 2024.
Roles like anesthesiologists, with an average salary of $465,005, and surgeons, at $373,000, are now among the best paid roles.
Away from healthcare, marketing directors, data scientists and legal directors, are all very well paid roles, according to the new data from Aspen Tech Labs.
In Q2 2024, the job market saw a modest growth in vacancies by 0.4% from Q1, reaching 6.13 million by July 1.
Despite this, there was a 3.0 percent year-over-year decline.
The job market is recovering from a contraction in 2023, but has been maintaining an upward trend.
The report said traders are keeping a close eye on the Federal Reserve and whether it cuts interest rates in September.
It said:
“For the first time, jobs that disclosed salary data exceeded 40 percent of all listings, hitting a high-water mark of
40.7 percent.
“We expect this number to continue to grow as more states mandate salary disclosure and because employees consistently prefer jobs that include salary information.”
Key Statistics
- Unique Active Jobs: 14.4 million
- Unique Employers: 113,000
- Jobs with Salary Data: 40.7%, a 3.6 percentage point increase from Q1
- New Employers Added: Approximately 34,000
Vacancy Trends by State
Vacancy changes varied significantly across states:
- Increases: West Virginia and Hawaii (7%), Oregon and Rhode Island (6%), Maryland (4%)
- Decreases: Alabama (4%), Iowa and Alaska (3%), Utah and South Carolina (2%)
Category-wise Vacancy Changes
- Increased Vacancies: Banking (13%), Legal (11%), Dental (10%), Construction (8%)
- Decreased Vacancies: Insurance (-9%), Pharmacy (-9%), Engineering (-6%)
Salary Trends
- Median Full-time Salary: Increased by 1.1% to $57,200
- Median Part-time Salary: Increased by 2.1% to $18.00/hr
The report said:
The uptick in banking jobs, for example, could be read as a recovery after the tumult in the banking
sector last year.Then again, it might signal a different response; rather than recovery of lost jobs at banks, growth in banking-category jobs like financial analysts, risk managers, compliance officers, and others could signal that organizations are seeking to beef up internal risk management in the current economic environment.
It could also be a combination of the two.
Salary Transparency
Salary transparency continued to rise, with 40.7% of job listings including salary information, marking a 9.7% increase from the previous quarter and a 45% increase from the previous year.
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Regional Salary Differences
- Highest Median Salaries by Metro:
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($125,206)
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ($89,991)
- Lowest Median Salaries by State: Mississippi ($42,000), Alabama (decreased by 4%)
AI Job Trends
- AI Job Vacancies: Increased by 30% year-over-year
- Median AI Salary: Rose from $145,000 to $167,000, a 15% increase
- Top Employers for AI Jobs: TikTok, Amazon, Apple, Google, Booz Allen Hamilton
Fast-Growing Occupations
- Nurse Practitioners: 45% projected growth, with a 2.0% salary increase to $132,496
- Information Security Analysts: 32% projected growth, with a 5.7% salary increase to $120,360
- Physician Assistants: 27% projected growth, with a 1.1% salary increase to $140,000
Top Paying Jobs
- Highest Paying Job Titles: Anesthesiologist ($465,005), Surgeon ($375,003), Nurse Anesthetist ($322,504)
- Top Categories by Salary: Information Technology ($124,998), Engineering ($110,063), Veterinarian ($109,772)
Who’s hiring?
TikTok has the most vacancies with 538.
Amazon, Apple, Google, and Booz Allen Hamilton round out the top five.
The vast majority of these openings are for data scientists, followed by software developers, other engineers, scientists, and product managers
Final Thoughts
The job market in Q2 2024 shows signs of recovery with slight growth in vacancies and increased salary transparency.
While there are significant regional and sectoral variations, the overall trend is positive.
The rise in AI-related jobs and salaries indicates a strong demand in the tech sector.
The increase in salary transparency is also a win for job seekers.
The full report can be found here.
