Infographic: Fastest-Growing Jobs That Require an Associate’s Degree

Published on May 3, 2010

Updated on Nov 3, 2022

Written by Emsi Burning Glass

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This is the first in a series of posts outlining the five fastest-growing occupations in the U.S. that require — on average — an associate’s degree, and where each state ranks in terms of growth in that occupation.

The labor market information, using a 2006-10 time frame, comes from EMSI’s Analyst. We sorted all occupations at the associate’s-degree education level by percentage growth to come up with the top five:

  1. Geological and petroleum technicians

  2. Physical therapist assistants

  3. Veterinary technologists and technicians

  4. Occupational therapist assistants

  5. Cardiovascular technologists and technicians

We’ve tossed data for each occupation into interactive maps to see how states stack up against one another. First up is the fifth-fastest growing occupation, cardiovascular technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2031). Nationally, it grew by 12% from ’06-10 with 52,247 estimated total jobs in 2010.

Mouse over each state to see the percentage growth of cardio techs, the state’s rank (No. 1 is Idaho; No. 51 is Hawaii), and how many workers are in the occupation.

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Lastly, here’s a chart showing the top 10 states by rank:

If you have any questions on the map or would like to see this data for your region, please email Josh Wright at jwright@economicmodeling.com or call 208.883.3500.