You have read or seen the news about the federal minimum wage increase, but what about pay increases elsewhere? CareerTrends, a website that offers career information, compiles the most recent available data from the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (run by the state of Utah under contract with the U.S. Department of Labor) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in order to answer this question. CareerTrends then ranked the jobs according to their percent increase in salary from 2010 to 2015. Only jobs with at least 1,000 employees were considered for compiling the list.
What does this mean for advisors everywhere? The increase in wages also presents an opportunity to better serve the middle market, since now there will be more investible assets that you can manage.
While some careers might appear odd to you at first, there are plenty of opportunities to advise these clients. Rail yard engineers and animal breeders need to know how to handle their long-term health care planning or their long-term financial plan, just like any other professional.
What about jobs within the financial industry? Personal financial advisers — yes, with an "e" — and brokerage clerks also made it on this list, and at fairly impressive rankings, too.
While the CareerTrends list includes 25 occupations in total, here you will find the top 15 jobs:
No. 15: Rail yard engineers
Percent increase: 20.8%
2010 average salary: $35,014
2015 average salary: $42,301
Employment: 3,900
No. 14: Petroleum engineers
Percent increase: 21.3%
2010 average salary: $97,307
2015 average salary: $118,063
Employment: 33,740
No. 13: Conservation Science Professors
Percent increase: 21.8%
2010 average salary: $63,096
2015 average salary: $76,870
Employment: 1,850
No. 12: Personal financial advisers
Percent increase: 22.3%
2010 average salary: $65,672
2015 average salary: $80,285
Employment: 196,490
No. 11: Brokerage clerks
Percent increase: 22.7%
2010 average salary: $35,219
2015 average salary: $43,221
Employment: 57,240
No. 10: Air traffic controllers
Percent increase: 23.1%
2010 average salary: $80,968
2015 average salary: $99,658
Employment: 22,860
No. 9: Animal breeders
Percent increase: 23.8%
2010 average salary: $30,532
2015 average salary: $37,796
Employment: 1,110
No. 8: Actors
Percent increase: 25%
2010 average salary: $36,609
