Despite the lagging American economy, public health jobs continue to draw not only new applicants, but new openings. One of the hottest medical professions currently in the United States is that of public health, which has a number of careers that are growing at exponential rates — some up to 25% year after year.
Statisticians
It’s no easy task being a statistician — just the road to this occupation requires intense math classes and a form of academic dedication that is rarely seen among many other undergraduate and graduate-level concentrations. The US boasts roughly 22,000 statisticians at present, and the occupation is expected to grow by 9% over the next several years as their occupation expands to things like biostatistics.
Because this is one of the most demanding public health jobs, the average salary for a statistician is about $72,610 in the United States as of May 2008, with the middle fifty percent earning between $52,730 and $95,170. Entry-level positions for statisticians, mathematical statisticians, and biostatisticians average $39,740 per year.
Health Educators
State and local public health departments are growing by leaps and bounds every year, and the number one position they’re hiring is “health educator.” This position is responsible for communicating with the those in the state or local area of governance on matters of public health. Overall, 62,000 health educators currently work in the United States and the career is expected to grow by 26% for the next several years.
Entry-level health educator positions generally demand a salary of about $35,000 in the United States, while the average salary of these in-demand health professionals reaches $51,510 per year. The highest-paid health educators in the country average a salary of roughly $69,000 per year.
Social Workers
The demand for social workers is roughly the same as the demand for public health educators, and this area of the public health profession is among the fastest-growing. The demand for social workers is expected to increase by roughly 24% year over year for the duration of the present decade, swelling their ranks to about 30,000 by 2020.
Despite their high demand in the United States, social workers start on the lower end of the pay scale for public health professionals. Entry level careers in social work pull in an average salary of about $24,000. Seasoned professionals in the field can expect their salary to increase over time, however, and social workers who have been in the field for at least ten years demand a salary more than twice as high as the entry-level: $50,000 per year.
As demand goes up, however, the pay for social workers will rise slightly over the next decade.
Medical Scientists
Often considered the most competitive field within the public health sector, medical scientists will be relieved to know that their occupation is currently growing at around 20% per year in the United States, and that growth is expected to continue for the rest of the present decade. That growth will account for an additional 92,000 medical science jobs over the next ten years. Those who specialize in epidemiology can expect even faster growth — perhaps up to five percent faster.
Non-epidemiologist candidates at the entry level in the field of medical science can expect an average starting salary of about $36,000 per year on average in the United States. As some of the highest-paid public health officials in the country, however, the ranks of the employed will see enormous growth potential with salaries reaching $151,000 per year at the highest levels of the profession. The benefit of these jobs being so competitive is that their salaries are often far more rewarding than other areas within the public health profession.
As for those interested in becoming epidemiologists, the salary news is virtually identical, though they do come in a bit lower than the rest of the medical science field. Entry-level epidemiologists can expect an average starting salary of around $40,000 per year but their overall salary tops out at an average of just $94,100. That’s a big departure from the six-figure highs of the broader medical science profession.
Bonuses
Most positions in the public health field offer competitive bonuses to their prospective hires in the hopes of signing them on with a contract and retaining their services for a minimum period of time — generally one or two years. These bonuses can range from a mere $1,000 at the time a job offer is accepted to more than $25,000 for the most-qualified and highest-paid potential job candidates.
These bonuses were not factored into the above salaries, as their amount varies between employers and municipalities. However, they are a lucrative way to begin a career as a public health official and help to ease the transition from a student of public health to a professional on its front lines.