Tech and healthcare dominate the ranks of top-paying U.S. jobs
For the fourth consecutive year, the technology sector boasted the highest-paying jobs in the United States, according to an annual report from Glassdoor.
Thirteen of the 25 highest-paying jobs this year were in tech, up from 11 in 2017, according to the report, which was released this week. Within the industry, enterprise architects, software development managers, software engineering managers and software architects received the highest pay, with the lowest average base salary well over $100,000.
The report gathered salary data from millions of employees, examined job titles that received a minimum of 100 salary reports over the last year, and used algorithms to estimate median annual base pay. Top executive jobs were excluded from the report.
While tech jobs pay well across the board, the healthcare industry offers the largest paychecks at the very top of the spectrum, accounting for five of the top 10 positions. Physicians topped the list of highest-paid employees in America, with a median base salary of $195,842. Pharmacy managers and pharmacists came in second and third, with a base pay of $146,412 and $127,120, respectively.
“Technology and healthcare are the two industries that are making the greatest impact on the economy,” said Sarah Stoddard, a community expert at Glassdoor. “There’s a high demand but short supply for those roles, driving up salaries.”
While men are overrepresented in the country’s highest-paying jobs, the breakdown is different between tech and healthcare. Tech companies employ more than twice as many men as women, according to a 2017 LinkedIn report. Healthcare, on the other hand, has a slightly bigger proportion of women. There’s still a significant pay gap between medical specialties.
Doctors and engineers have technical skills that come with a high price tag for employers. But Stoddard said business and consulting expertise, along with interpersonal communication skills, are still valued in the job market. Strategy manager and consulting manager joined the list of the country’s top-paying jobs for the first time this year.
Nearly seven in 10 workers and job seekers said salary is a key factor in determining a career, Glassdoor found. But 27% of Americans said they “don’t have a good sense of their career path,” and about a quarter said they felt as though they’re “on a treadmill going nowhere,” according to a LinkedIn survey of 2,000 professionals, also released Wednesday.
More than half of employed Americans are looking to leave their current jobs, according to a Gallup survey that came out last month. The average American, however, remains in the same job for about 10 years. Hiring experts have dubbed this demographic “career sleepwalkers.”
Perhaps the potential for higher pay could wake them from their slumber.
