Top 5 Job Types with the Highest Compensation Increases

Published
02/07/2018

Deciding on a career path can be quite a challenge where you're in that space of not knowing exactly what you want to do with the next five years of your life and beyond. Of course, as such a monumental decision it makes sense that you would want to take all factors into consideration before making any long-term commitments that are going to have a significant impact on your future lifestyle. With that said, here's a list of the top five types of jobs that offer consistent wage increases:

1. Government Workers

Since 1980, government workers have received wage increases equivalent to five times those received by employees in the private sector. Thus, choosing a government job is a good way to ensure that your income is going to gradually increase year after year. Furthermore, there are many online universities that will allow you to earn valuable career-boosting degrees like a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in leadership and learning in organizations. For example, https://peabodyonline.vanderbilt.edu/programs/edd-in-organizational-learning/, provides a degree program that will prep you for higher level managerial jobs that will come with a high starting salary, low unemployment, and a high rate of compensation increase.

2. Customer Service Managers

Customer service managers receive an average yearly annual wage increase of more than $3,700 on average. That means that you'll enjoy an increasingly larger salary as time goes on, mostly because there are many different higher level positions and ranks within the retail sector. An assistant manager can easily graduate to better managerial positions with a bit of hard work.

3. Professors

Professors enjoy the highest wage rate increase of all private sector occupations, with an average wage growth of almost 6% (almost $5,000) per year and a desirable median base pay of $90,000. Of course, the path to becoming a professor will be much more difficult than the other options on this list, which is why there is such high rate of increased compensation for those who continue to provide valuable service to academic employers.

4. Attorneys

Attorneys have a high median base pay of about $98,000 with plenty of head room for larger salaries down the road. The annual wage growth rate places this profession within the top 3 in terms of year-on-year compensation increase.

5. Software Engineers

Software engineers are always in high demand and that trend is expected to increase within the next 5 years. Year-on-year wage growth for professionals in this field is about 4 percent. Perhaps more importantly, software engineering expertise also gives you the skills needed to create your own programs/apps, market yourself as a freelancer, and further your own business endeavours.

Selecting a Career that Provides Opportunity for Growth

No one likes the idea of being limited to a set salary for the rest of their lives, so it makes sense to strongly consider jobs that offer consistent wage increases year after year. In addition, it's good to research how much the average wage of employees has risen within the past decade to determine if the overall pay within the industry is going to increase or decline.