Fastest Growing Occupations These fast-growing occupations will have better employment prospects than occupations with slow or declining employment. Also, conditions will be more favorable for mobility and advancement. Four of the fastest growing occupations are associated with the healthcare industry. Two of these jobs have earned the "HOT" label on a statewide basis for this period. Eight of these jobs do not require any formal education beyond high school. Fiberglass Laminators & Fabricators Hot Industrial Engineers Painters, Transportation Equipment Preschool Teachers, Exc Spec Ed Electrical & Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Ind Equipm Personal & Home Care Aides Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary Medical Assistants Mental Health Counselors Hotel, Motel, & Resort Desk Clerks Combined Food Prep & Serving Workers, Inc Fast Food Home Health Aides Physical Therapist Assistants Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operat Hot Physician Assistants 4.67% 3.75% 3.74% 3.49% 3.49% 3.22% 3.19% 3.16% 3.14% 3.13% 3.07% 3.06% 3.04% 2.95% 7.44% Occupations with the Most Annual Openings Most of the annual openings in this list will result from the need to replace workers who change jobs rather than from new job creation. On a statewide basis, two have earned the "HOT" label for this period. Ten require short-term on-the-job training of one month or less. Although these occupations have many projected annual openings, more than half of them pay less than average wages. Combined Food Prep & Serving Workers, Inc Fast Food Waiters & Waitresses Cashiers Retail Salespersons Hot Registered Nurses Amusement & Recreation Attendants Hot Elem School Teachers, Exc Spec Ed Customer Service Reps Laborers & Freight, Stock, & Material Movers, Hand Farmw orkers & Laborers, Crop, Nursery, & Greenhouse Team Assemblers Office Clerks, General Teacher Assistants Cooks, Restaurant Food Prep Workers 80 70 60 60 60 60 50 50 40 40 40 160 150 140 130 Georgia Area Workforce Trends Projections to 2016 WIA Area #18 South GA This area encompasses the ten counties of central South Georgia near the Florida border in and around the cities of Tifton and Valdosta. It includes the following counties: Ben Hill, Brooks, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Tift, and Turner. Workforce Information & Analysis Division Georgia Department of Labor Michael L. Thurmond Commissioner Total Industry Growth Total employment in WIA Area #18 is expected to grow from 105,000 jobs in 2006 to more than 113,000 by the year 2016, which equates to more than 800 new jobs added each year. This area is the home of a regional medical center and a regional university. Thanks to its agricultural experiment station at Tifton, it is also home to one of the largest concentrations of Ph.D.'s per capita in the United States. Key industries include health services, educational services, agricultural production, textiles, and transportation equipment manufacturing, paper manufacturing, and plastic products manufacturing. The top ten industries in this area with the most job growth are listed below. Food services and drinking places Educational services Ambulatory health care services Social assistance Hospitals Membership associations and organizations Accommodation Self-employed & unpaid family w krs Amusements, gambling, and recreation Repair and maintenance 1,160 880 830 520 410 400 380 360 2,690 2,470 Industry Rate of Growth The area's economy is currently projected to expand slower than state and the nation. Area job growth is expected to be 0.8 percent per year, while Georgia's job growth is expected to be 1.3 percent per year and the nation's employment is expected to grow at 1.0 percent annually. The ten fastest growing industries in this area are listed below. Transportation equipment manufacturing Nonmetallic mineral product manuf ac turing Social assistance Repair and maintenance Amusements, gambling, and recreation Accommodation Food services and drinking places Ambulatory health care services Membership associations and organizations Educational services 7.1% 6.7% 5.0% 4.0% 3.6% 3.0% 2.7% 2.7% 2.5% 2.2% For copies of the Georgia Career Planner, Georgia Workforce Trends or this publication, call 404/232-3875 or contact your local Department of Labor office. Occupations with the Most Job Growth These 15 occupations out of more than 700 - are projected to add more than 4,500 jobs over the next 10 years, more than 50 percent of all projected job growth in this area. Eight occupations require short-term on-the-job training of one month or less and two require a college degree. Health services, a key industry in this area, only has one occupation on the list. Two have made the list of Georgia's "HOT" Careers to 2016 as a result of their fast job growth, high wages, and plentiful job openings during the period 2006-2016. Comb Food Prep & Serving Workers, Inc Fast Food Waiters and Waitresses Hot Registered Nurses Hot Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education Amusement and Recreation Attendants Teacher Assistants Team Assemblers First-Line Supervisors/Mgrs of Food Prep & Serving Worker Customer Service Representatives Cooks, Restaurant Office Clerks, General Cooks, Fast Food Food Preparation Workers Janitors & Cleaners, Exc Maids & Housekeeping Cleaners Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education 510 460 350 260 230 220 210 210 200 190 180 160 160 150 1,060