Before getting to the list, one distinction worth holding onto, because it is the thing most “fastest-growing jobs” articles get wrong.
There are two different ways to measure a growing job, and they produce almost opposite lists. A job can grow fast in percentage terms while adding very few actual positions, simply because it started small. Wind turbine service technician is the fastest-growing US occupation through 2034 at 50 percent, but the entire field will add fewer than 20,000 jobs. Meanwhile, a job growing at a modest percentage can add hundreds of thousands of openings because it is already enormous.
Both matter, but for different reasons. High-percentage jobs signal where momentum is. High-volume jobs are where most people will actually find work. The list below covers both, drawing on the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, which surveyed over 1,000 global employers, and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 to 2034 projections.
A note on scope: the WEF data is global; the BLS data is US-specific. Where they agree, the signal is strong. Where they differ, local conditions matter more than any global headline.
The Technology Cluster
The fastest growth in percentage terms is concentrated here. These roles are not just “tech jobs” in the narrow sense; they increasingly sit inside healthcare, finance, agriculture, and energy companies too.
1. AI and Machine Learning Specialists
The clearest growth story of the next five years. The WEF ranks AI and machine learning specialists among its top three fastest-growing roles globally, projecting roughly 85 percent growth by 2030. Demand comes from nearly every sector at once, since 86 percent of surveyed employers expect AI to transform their business by 2030. The irony of this list is hard to miss: the technology displacing many jobs is itself the largest single source of new high-skill ones.
2. Big Data Specialists and Data Scientists
Big data specialists top the WEF’s global growth ranking at around 110 percent, and the BLS lists data scientist as the fourth fastest-growing US occupation at 34 percent. As organizations make more decisions from data, the people who can turn raw information into usable insight are in demand across industries, not just at tech firms.
3. Cybersecurity and Information Security Analysts
The rising frequency and cost of cyberattacks has made security one of the most reliable growth areas in the entire economy. The BLS projects information security analyst roles to grow 29 percent through 2034, and the WEF places security management specialists in its global top five. This is also a field with a persistent shortage of qualified workers, which tends to support strong wages.
4. Software and Applications Developers
Less explosive in percentage terms but enormous in volume. The BLS projects software developers will add roughly 268,000 US jobs by 2034, the second-largest absolute gain of any high-skill occupation, at a median salary above $130,000. Reports of software development’s death by AI are, so far, premature; the role is shifting toward overseeing and integrating AI-generated code rather than disappearing.
5. FinTech Engineers
The WEF ranks fintech engineers second globally at around 95 percent growth. The continued digitization of payments, banking, and lending, particularly across Asia and Africa where mobile-first finance is leapfrogging traditional banking, is driving sustained demand for people who can build secure financial technology.
The Care Cluster
This is where the volume is. Demographics, not technology, drive these roles, which makes them among the most resistant to automation on the entire list.
6. Nursing Professionals and Nurse Practitioners
Ageing populations across most high and middle-income countries are driving sustained demand for healthcare. Nurse practitioner is the fastest-growing healthcare occupation in the US at 40 percent, and the WEF identifies nursing among its significant global growth areas. The work involves exactly the kind of human judgment and presence that current AI cannot replicate.
7. Home Health and Personal Care Aides
In sheer numbers, this is the single largest growing job in the US economy, projected to add 739,800 positions by 2034, more than double any other occupation. The honest caveat: it is also low-paid, with a 2024 US median around $34,900. High demand does not automatically mean good pay, and this role is the clearest example of that gap on the list.
8. Social Workers, Counsellors, and Care Professionals
The WEF projects significant growth in care and counselling roles, driven by the same demographic pressures plus a growing global focus on mental health. These are relationship-based jobs that resist automation and tend to be needed everywhere, not just in major cities.
The Green and Frontline Cluster
9. Renewable Energy Roles: Solar Installers, Wind Technicians, and EV Specialists
The green transition is the headline driver of percentage growth. Solar photovoltaic installer and wind turbine service technician are the two fastest-growing US occupations, at 42 and 50 percent respectively, and the WEF places renewable energy engineers and electric-vehicle specialists among its top 15 globally. The reality check from BLS economists: these are small fields, so explosive percentages still translate to relatively few total jobs. Promising, but not a mass employer yet.
10. Frontline Roles: Farmworkers, Delivery Drivers, and Construction Workers
This is the least glamorous entry and, in absolute terms, one of the most important. The WEF projects that frontline roles including farmworkers, delivery drivers, and construction workers will see the largest job growth of all in raw numbers by 2030. Farmworkers top the global list, with the green transition alone projected to add 34 million agricultural jobs. These roles rarely appear in “jobs of the future” headlines, but they are where a very large share of actual employment growth will happen.
What This Means in Practice
A few honest conclusions from the data, rather than the usual encouragement to “learn to code.”
The safest bets combine two qualities: resistance to automation and genuine demand. Care work and skilled trades score high on both. Technology roles score high on demand but require continuous reskilling to stay current, since the specific tools change fast even as the broad field grows.
Percentage growth is seductive but can mislead. A job growing 50 percent in a field of 10,000 people is a worse bet, statistically, than one growing 10 percent in a field of two million. Read both numbers before making a decision.
Finally, almost every growing role on this list now has a technology dimension, even the ones that are not “tech jobs.” Nurses use increasingly sophisticated systems; farmworkers operate automated equipment; care coordination runs on software. The most durable career advantage over the next five years is probably not any single skill, but the willingness to keep learning as the tools shift underneath you. The WEF estimates that 39 percent of current core skills will change by 2030. That figure, more than any single job title, is the real story.
Projections are linked to primary sources at time of publication. Employment forecasts are estimates, not guarantees, and local conditions vary significantly. Verify current data for your region before making career decisions.