While COVID-19 is still with us, a study by the Center for Research and Evaluation at UC San Diego released a list of the top 10 professions with the greatest growth potential in a post- or post-COVID world on Monday.

Using data from labor market information firm Emsi Burning Glass, researchers identified some of the highest-paying and fastest-growing occupations in the San Diego area and across the country.

“Some professions have held up in the face of the pandemic, such as health care and IT jobs, while others, such as those related to education, sports and media, are still recovering,” he said. said Georgia Kovacs, director of the center, in the UCSD division. in-depth studies.

According to the data, the top 10 careers in San Diego are expected to grow between 11% and 30% over the next ten years, and median hourly wages for these occupations currently range from $23 to $58 per hour.

San Diego’s leading occupation is medical and health services managers with an expected potential workforce growth of 30% by 2031.

Software development and quality assurance jobs are also expected to grow at a rapid pace, sharing the highest pay rate of $58 an hour with managers in medical and health services.

The full list and their projected growth rates are:

• Directors of medical and health services, 30%
• Software developers and software quality assurance analysts, 23%
• Logistics, 21%
• Child, family and school social workers, 19%
• Industrial engineer, 14%
• Teachers, tutors and instructors, 14%
• Market research and marketing specialists, 13%
• Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians, 11%
• Civil engineers, 11%
• Management analysts, 11%

Nationally, data predicts these occupations will experience similar growth, with current median hourly wages ranging between $17 and $53.

Others that make it into the top 10 occupations nationally, but not regionally in San Diego, are coaches and scouts, interpreters and translators, and addiction, behavioral and mental health counselors.

“Understanding how the pandemic has altered the local and national employment landscape is critical to developing skills-building programs that provide equitable access to knowledge and create new opportunities for individuals and for community economic development” , said Hugo Villar, dean of the Division of Advanced Studies at UCSD.

City News Service contributed to this article.