• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
Commentary

Commentary: The 3 Fastest-Growing Jobs Right Now, According to LinkedIn

By
Guy Berger
Guy Berger
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Guy Berger
Guy Berger
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 7, 2017, 3:13 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Many have predicted doom and gloom for the jobs market in the face of new disruptive technologies like A.I. and robotics, but there are extremely positive signs to quell fears about jobs disappearing. History shows us that jobs don’t just disappear. They are redefined or replaced with new ones over time, and sometimes not as quickly as you might think. Did you know that the only job to have been completely eliminated by automation since 1950 is the elevator operator, according to Boston University economist James Bessen?

The pace of change is going to accelerate, but job growth in the next decade is actually expected to outstrip growth during the previous decade, creating 11.5 million jobs in the U.S. by 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 have not yet been invented, according to one forecast from the Institute for the Future.

These jobs have to come from somewhere. New roles are emerging all the time, replacing older ones and increasing the demand for new types of skills. It will give workers at all levels opportunities to grow, especially those who are looking to change careers, or relocate.

But what do these emerging roles and skills look like, and what do they tell us about the way we’ll work in the years to come? Using LinkedIn data from the last five years, we’ve identified the jobs and skill sets growing the fastest, and what we found confounded some of the conventional wisdom about the future of work.

Data scientists

Technology is already shaping the jobs market of the future—almost half of the 20 fastest-growing jobs have technology skills at their core. Machine learning engineer and data scientist jobs in particular have grown rapidly in the past five years. This comes as no real surprise, but demand is coming from tech and non-tech companies alike—and in some cases the supply can’t keep up with demand.

For example, data scientist jobs have grown over 650% since 2012, but only 35,000 people in the U.S. currently have data science skills. Meanwhile, hundreds of companies are hiring for those roles—even in sectors like retail and finance. Machine learning engineer jobs have grown even more rapidly at 980%, and there are more than 1,600 open roles in the U.S., as companies scramble to gain a competitive edge through automation. Demand is currently concentrated in large cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, but this will change in the years to come as the pool of companies and industries using machine learning technology broadens.

With these roles emerging so quickly, it’s telling that there’s no predefined career path for people in these roles today. Rewind five years, and the people in these jobs were everything from research and teaching assistants, to software engineers and analysts.

Customer success managers

Tech’s influence on the jobs of tomorrow is far reaching, but other fast-growing roles have emerged, reflecting broader societal trends such as flexibility and location mobility. Take a role like customer success manager, which has grown 560%. The rapid growth of this and other customer-facing roles suggests that the “age of the customer” is more than just jargon.

Realtors

Licensed realtors also rank highly as the post-Great Recession recovery of the real estate market rolls forward. In the past year alone, the number of licensed realtors has surged 40%.

 

Both of these roles tend to be more widely distributed across U.S. regions, and are some of the least automatable jobs currently on the market because they rely more heavily on soft, transferable skills like communication and management. Their rise should mean more opportunity for a broader base of workers who possess these soft skills, although they are more difficult to teach and learn than hard skills, and our education system has so far struggled to develop scalable and effective ways to teach them.

Change is coming to all types of roles within every industry, making it more important than ever for today’s workers to learn new skills and retrain for long-term career success. Many are already aware of this—38% of workers told us they think their skills will be outdated within the next five years.

Come what may, it’s clear that technology will play a big role shaping the future. Whether it’s tech-focused roles and skills, the emergence of technical skills in formerly non-technical jobs, or new non-technical roles emerging as the result of tech’s growth, nearly every role will have a technology component in the future.

Guy Berger is an economist at LinkedIn.

About the Authors
By Guy Berger
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Bethany Cianciolo
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

rn
CommentaryCryptocurrency
Former Iran director at NSC: Crypto legislation is a ticket to sanctions evasion
By Richard NephewJuly 2, 2026
20 hours ago
m
Commentary250 Years of Innovation
McKinsey chairs: Building a more resilient industrial base may require $2 trillion in investment
By Eric Kutcher and Shubham SinghalJuly 2, 2026
20 hours ago
em
Commentary250 Years of Innovation
America’s 250th birthday has Elon Musk and a record IPO. Its 15th had Alexander Hamilton — and a stock market bubble
By Owen LamontJuly 2, 2026
24 hours ago
paramount
CommentaryAntitrust
How Paramount’s theater commitments could boost local economies across the nation
By Ike BrannonJuly 2, 2026
24 hours ago
elon
CommentaryChina
China has 400 private space companies. The West is barely paying attention
By Rainer ZitelmannJuly 2, 2026
1 day ago
senate
CommentaryCongress
One rare bipartisan AI bill is moving through Congress. Here’s why it deserves to pass
By Neil Björkman and Betsy BrewerJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
Success
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 2, 2026
17 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
21 hours ago
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
Success
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
By Emma BurleighJuly 2, 2026
19 hours ago
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
Success
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 2, 2026
1 day ago
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
Law
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
16 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.