COLUMBUS – Nurses, warehouse workers and customer service representatives are among the hottest jobs in central Ohio, according to the state’s updated database.
Ohio has rolled out an updated list of jobs that are in high demand and made it searchable.
Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted says the list, which is called Ohio’s Top Jobs, is built for Ohio students and workers trying to figure out the next step in their education or career.
“Ohio’s Top Jobs is a place for people who know they are ready for the next step, but need a little help understanding their options and designing a strategy for achieving their goals,” he said.
To qualify as an in-demand job, a position has to pay at least 80% of the state median wage, or $14.10 an hour or higher, and be in a field that’s growing faster than the statewide average of either 36 new jobs or 584 job openings a year.
“The new list reflects occupations that pay well and have promising futures. The new website makes it even easier for Ohioans to find these occupations,” said Kimberly Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the agency that compiled the list in collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, headed up by Husted.
Those searching in central Ohio will find a high demand for registered nurses, with nearly 2,000 openings paying a median salary of $64,000 a year with an anticipated need for more than 600 a year.
The biggest need is in the lower-paying fields of laborer, freight movers and customer service representatives, which earn about half of what RN’s can expect to earn, but will find approximately 4,000 current openings in each field and employers adding about 500 jobs a year, hiring workers with only a high school diploma.
Among those fields requiring some post-secondary degrees, in addition to nursing, the most in-demand workers statewide are general and operations managers, accountants and auditors.