A median salary of $36,460 (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) for just a high school diploma doesn’t sound too bad, but this career is quickly disappearing. With the rise of online searches and bookings, the need for travel agents has been slowly dying out. They’ll be a forgotten species soon enough.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics suspects that this trend will continue, projecting a 12% decline in this job by 2024. Things aren’t looking good for in-person travel agents at this point, so it’s no wonder that many in this profession are looking for an exit. We don’t expect this trend will improve in the future either.
Many people don't even know what an information security analyst does, but it's actually a pretty important job in our high-tech society. These professionals are responsible for helping to prevent security breaches and cyberattacks, as well as train employees on how to avoid these problems in the first place.
As the potential dangers of the internet continue to rise, so does the need for information security analysts. It's expected that this is one career that will rise in demand by more than 30% in the coming decade. When you couple this rise in opportunities with an average median salary of more than $100,000, this is one job that doesn't sound half bad!
Another career that doesn’t require a college degree. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates you can make about $27,227, which is on the lower end of the spectrum, but even if it’s something you want to do, this job seems to be disappearing fast. The BLS expects over 21% of those remaining textile operator jobs to be gone by 2026.
So what’s causing this drastic decline in textile machine operators? Like some of the other dying professions on this list, advances in technology have made this occupation increasingly irrelevant. Humans will always need textiles in some form, but it doesn’t appear that we will always need humans to man the machines that create them.
Derrick operator is not really a job that many people think about, but they're incredibly important within the industries of oil and natural gas. These professionals are responsible for overseeing the operation of derricks—the large metal machines responsible for pumping oil and gas out of the ground.
This is a promising industry, especially for those with no higher education, as these sorts of operator jobs typically require none. However, the pay is still decent for these jobs, with a median salary of almost $50,000. It's also an industry expected to grow by 30% over the next decade, which means that opportunities abound for those looking for work.
It takes a brave soul to take on a system built around dysfunctional families and neglected children. Every day brings a new set of challenges and horrors, from drunken fathers to battered mothers to kids who haven’t eaten in three days, all living in roach-infested living spaces. And to top it off, many of these families are not pleased with the state’s intrusion.
Perhaps the hardest part of the job is knowing when to stop – how to leave work at work, how not to give away too much of the self. It’s a job that burns employees out pretty quickly and certainly doesn’t pay well enough. A study in North Carolina by Darcy Siebert found 19% of the social workers surveyed had depression. Another one in England discovered upwards of 15-16%, which is three times the rate of the general population.
When you're a nurse practitioner, you can expect to do a little of everything in the medical field. These professionals are responsible for everything from diagnosing problems and prescribing medicine to assisting doctors with any other tasks associated with patients. While this career requires a master's degree, it's definitely well worth the effort.
The median salary for nurse practitioners nationwide is a whopping $117,670. On top of that amazing salary, it's expected that the demand for these medical professionals is only going to rise in the next decade, with a projected 52% rise in the growth of these jobs.
This job almost sounds fun, right? I mean, what’s more glamorous than working at a casino? However, AmoMedia shows that this job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. With an average annual salary of only $22,300 and a projected job growth rate of only 2%, it’s almost not worth it. Most casinos are choosing to cut the cost of employees and invest in machines instead.
While this is one profession that is not dying as quickly as the others, 2% growth is nothing to write home about. When you couple that slow growth with the low pay and demanding tasks, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this profession take even more of a downturn that it has already expected.
Statisticians are able to work in a wide variety of fields, from medicine to politics, thanks to the important skills they bring to the table. There are many organizations out there looking for people who can collect and correctly analyze data to help better inform their business decisions.
When it comes to statisticians, the pay isn't half bad, with a national median salary of $92,270. On top of all that, it's expected that this field will continue to grow in the coming years by at least 35%. While this is one job that will take quite a few years of college, the rewards may just be worth all that hard work.
A $39,240 paycheck is nothing to turn your nose up at, but according to AmoMedia, data entry workers just aren’t that needed. AmoMedia projects that the jobs for data entry workers will decline by 5%, mostly thanks to the rise of technology. The same source also estimates that by 2020, almost 16,000 of these workers will have lost their jobs.
While companies will almost certainly need to keep some humans around in their data entry departments, it just doesn’t make financial sense to keep a large group around for the job when it can be accomplished more cheaply through automated technology.
The qualifications to become an occupational therapist can be quite rigorous and often include a master's degree or even a doctorate. However, while some training is still required for occupational therapy assistants, it's not nearly as much, and the field is looking promising in the coming years.
Over the next decade, it's predicted that the field of occupational therapy assistants will grow by almost 35%. When you consider the ample opportunities available in this career and the solidly decent $62,940 median salary, this could be a smart career move if you're willing to put in the time to get an associate's degree.
This one isn’t quite as bleak as many of the others on this list, but it’s definitely not the most viable career out there. According to AmoMedia, bookkeepers make a median of $39,240, but the number of jobs is expected to shrink by about 1% over the next decade.
Sure, that’s not that bad, but it will steadily increase with the rise of technology, making it easier for everyday consumers to access their own bank information without a bookkeeper. We don’t expect this growth (despite how small it already is) to continue indefinitely because of these advances in technology.
The American population of people over 65 continues to rise each year, and as our citizens get older, the demand for home health aides has risen. These medical professionals visit patients' homes to help them with everything from completing everyday tasks to administering medication. It's a demanding job, but it can be a rewarding one as well.
The average median salary for home health aides isn't the greatest in the world at $27,080, but considering that these kinds of jobs typically only require a high school diploma, it still can be a promising outlook for those with no formal training. Additionally, it's projected that the demand for these jobs will rise by 34% in the future, meaning opportunities should be plentiful.
Let’s be real here, is anyone really upset to hear about this? Telemarketers are insanely annoying, and thanks to the rise in online marketing (not to mention the now ubiquitous caller ID on your phone), telemarketers will soon be a thing of the past. According to Fairy Godboss, this job has seen an 18% decline since 2015.
For most people, the decline of telemarketers probably sounds like a welcome development, but it could be troubling for those involved in the profession. Considering that most people don’t answer unknown numbers these days (and most phones have spam detection), it’s not likely that this career will be viable anytime soon.
Speech pathologists (sometimes referred to as speech-language pathologists) help patients with speech disorders caused by both injury and chronic issues. This can range from helping a child with a stutter to helping an older person who has difficulties swallowing after a stroke. However, getting one of these jobs will require some planning on your part.
At the very least, being a speech pathologist will require a master's degree, and it might even require more training than that. However, it's expected that these kinds of jobs will increase by 25% over the next decade, which is a good sign for those interested in breaking into the profession.
All you need is a high school diploma and some on the job training to be a jeweler, and just with that, you’ll make about $38,200, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, most of these jobs are being sent overseas for cheaper labor, and the BLS estimates that jeweler jobs will decline by 11% by 2024.
While this is not the most common job in the world for people to have, these statistics should be troubling to those inside the business. According to current research, all signs point that this decline will continue in the future as more operations in this industry are outsourced to overseas.
It seems like people love their pets more than ever these days, and that's reflected in the rise in demand for animal caretakers. This is a profession that encapsulates a wide range of activities, from being a dog walker to being a pet groomer. The pay may not be much, but the opportunities are there and only continue to rise.
The average median salary for an animal caretaker is only $26,080, but these jobs typically only require a high school diploma, so there are some pros and cons to this type of work. It's expected that the demand for animal caretakers will rise by at least 23% in the next decade.
