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If you want a high-paying job that will be in high demand in northeast Indiana, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development says becoming a registered nurse is your best bet.
But if nursing is not what you want to do, there are 49 other suggested occupations that the state says pay above the average wage and are expected to add jobs at a faster than average rate in northeast Indiana.
The Department of Workforce Development compiled a Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs list for each of the 11 regions in Indiana based on the statewide hot jobs list it released last year.
The projected number of new jobs is based on 2004 wage and salary data from a quarterly census of employment and wages. The Department of Workforce Development then used calculations to project what long-term job growth will be.
The regional list for northeast Indiana includes Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Grant, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells, and Whitley counties.
Topping the list, the state expects that northeast Indiana will need 1,490 more registered nurses than the 5,720 in the field in 2004.
The median wage for registered nurses in 2006 was $48,159.
The median, which is the middle number when the income figures are lined up from highest to lowest, gives a better idea of what the normal worker makes because the top-paid don’t skew the number higher.
At both Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and Ivy Tech Northeast, administrators said their nursing programs are competitive and near or at capacity.
“We are at capacity, and there’s always a waiting list,” said Russ Baker, dean of academic affairs at Ivy Tech, about the associate in science degree in nursing.
Baker and Jack Dahl, associate vice chancellor for institutional research and planning at IPFW, both said it is not easy to increase the number of students enrolled in the nursing program. It’s difficult, they said, because there are a limited number of clinical placements in hospitals or doctors’ offices required for the program.
IPFW has about 900 students in pre-nursing and nursing programs, Dahl said, and enrollment is growing to the point that the program is near capacity.
Students know there will be a need for nurses as baby boomers retire and that nursing jobs pay well, Dahl said.
“Clearly, that is the reason behind the interest expressed by students,” Dahl said.
To meet projected demand at Ivy Tech, Baker said the school has increased its enrollment for the associate of science in nursing program to two classes of 50 students a year, up from one class of 50. To do so, Ivy Tech had to trim back its licensed practical nursing program from two classes of 50 to two classes of 30 annually. Licensed practical nursing, which has a median wage of $34,882, came in 25th on the Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs list, expecting to add 270 jobs by 2014.
Postsecondary teachers are No. 2 on the list, expected to add 580 teachers and professors to its ranks by 2014. Teachers in higher education earn a median wage of $50,469.
Elementary and kindergarten teachers got the No. 4 spot on the list. At a median salary of $47,673, elementary schools are expected to add 460 jobs to the 3,470 elementary teachers already working in 2004.
Several years ago, Ivy Tech began offering an associate of science degree in education, which graduates could then use to transfer to a four-year school and complete a bachelor’s degree, Baker said. Last year, about 15 students enrolled in the program. This fall, 111 students began the program.
“There is no question it’ll grow,” Baker said.
Lists like this are helpful to officials at Ivy Tech for planning what courses to offer.
“We look at lists like this all the time,” Baker said. “Our purpose is to provide the training that’s needed in the communities.”
Conceptually, the regional hot jobs lists were a spin-off of the statewide list with similar criteria, said Jon Wright, an economic analyst for the Department of Workforce Development.
State officials included occupations on the list where job growth in the occupation was projected to be 7.1 percent or higher, faster than the 7 percent overall expected job growth in the region. Also, the occupation had to create a minimum of 40 jobs in the region, and that number was different for each region based on the labor force, Wright said. Also, the median wage of the occupation had to be more than the regional median wage of $27,610. Another criteria that Wright said played into the list was the number of total openings.
To project how many jobs will be added to an occupation, the Department of Workforce Development used data from a quarterly census of employment and wages, which all employers covered by unemployment benefits must submit.
Based on 2004 numbers, Wright said calculations were used to project out employment growth to 2014. After the regional calculations were made, they were reconciled with the state projections the Department of Workforce Development came up with last year.
“Large numbers are easier to deal with when doing projections, so we wanted to balance what we did within the regions with the state level to make sure we were doing the best job we could,” Wright said.
Northeast Indiana’s top-two occupations were the same as the statewide list, and Joe DiLaura, spokesman for the Department of Workforce Development pointed out that nursing and education were in the top-10 list of each region in the state.
The bottom line of both the state and regional surveys is that the high-paying jobs of the future require specialized training and education, Wright said.
“We are seeing an increased growth in jobs that require a four-year degree, … or something beyond high school. Often it can be a directed program, a two-year certificate,” Wright said.
kpeterson@jg.net
