The most in-demand jobs in the next 7 years, in Pittsburgh and Pa.

PITTSBURGH — It shouldn't be hard to find a job in Pittsburgh over the next seven years, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

The agency found nine of the 10 most in-demand jobs through 2026 will be in health care and technology, two sectors that helped Pittsburgh reinvent itself following the collapse of the steel industry.

"If you look at what drives jobs in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, it's health care and technology," said Dr. Robert Cicco, chairman of the Allegheny County Medical Society.

According to the Department of Labor and Industry, seven of the most in-demand jobs are in the health field, including physician assistant and nurse practitioner.

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Cicco said Pennsylvania's aging population is also driving the health care boom.

"The older you get, the more health care problems you're likely to get and the more chronic problems that you're more likely to get," Cicco said.

According to a report from the State Data Center, Pennsylvania's senior population grew more than 13 percent between 2010 and 2016, while the state's overall population grew less than 1 percent.

"I think when you compare it to the national numbers," Carnegie Mellon University professor Michael Milton said, "you see the story about Pittsburgh that's really focusing in on these areas of health and software."

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Hilton said growth in health care goes hand-in-hand with technology, explaining why software developers and information security analysts will be in high demand through 2026.

"Software developers are growing so rapidly not because software itself is growing, but because of all the things that software enables, which are growing," Hilton said.

While health and tech jobs are booming in Pennsylvania, the state predicts skilled labor and manufacturing jobs will take a hit.

John Scarpino, academic chair of Pittsburgh Technical College's School of Information Systems and Technology, said that may cause skilled laborers to rethink their career paths.

"What is the next step within their career?" Scarpino asked. "Are they going to look at more of a technology, what I call manufacturing 2.0 of technology, rather than traditional what was manufacturing here in western Pennsylvania?"

According to the Department of Labor and Industry, statistician will be Pennsylvania's most in-demand job through 2026.

Cox Media Group