Maybe you want to acquire an associate's degree, or maybe you want to get a doctorate. Or perhaps you have no intention of pursuing formal education. Whatever your aim, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) contains data by education level that show which occupations are likely to have the most openings over the next decade.

The BLS forecasts long-term employment for almost 800 specific occupations. Each occupation is allocated a degree of education that is normally required for people to enter the field. This article focuses on 50 of the occupations that the BLS predicts will have the most openings each year, on average, from 2019 through 2029. These job vacancies are organized by education level as follows:

• No formal educational credential

• High school diploma or equivalent

• Associate's degree; postsecondary nondegree award; and some college, no degree

• Bachelor's degree

• Master's, doctoral, and professional degrees

From 2019 to 2029, the BLS predicts more than 17 million job openings each year across all occupations. Openings come from two sources: when new positions are generated as a result of increased employment, and when workers leave a job permanently, such as to transfer to another occupation or retire.

No formal educational credential

BLS classifies 103 occupations as not typically needing any formal educational credential. Table 1 shows the 10 occupations in this group that are projected to have the most openings each year, on average, from 2019 to 2029.

High school diploma or equivalent

There are 322 occupations that normally require a high school diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED), which is about twice as many as any other level of education. Table 2 shows the high school occupations that are expected to have the most openings annually, on average, from 2019 through 2029.

Learn more about other occupations organized by education level by visiting the 2019-2029 Job Opportunities provided by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)