Which jobs shrank and grew the most since 2012?

Between May 2012 and May 2025, BLS OEWS counts fell for 145 and rose for 249 of the 394 jobs we can compare like for like. Retail salespersons lost the most: 4,340,000 in May 2012 and 3,897,860 in May 2025. BLS changed how it estimates these counts in May 2021, so part of a change across that year can come from the method rather than the work.

Data as of: BLS OEWS May 2012 and May 2025.

How this list was made

• Each row compares two BLS OEWS counts for the same occupation code, May 2012 and May 2025, and the 15 largest losses and gains are ranked by the number of jobs. The change derived by Future History is computed from those two published counts.
• Why 2012: it is the first May survey published wholly on 2010 occupation codes. Earlier counts sit under 2000 codes, and some of those were redrawn in 2010 without changing their number, so a change across that revision can be a change of definition rather than of work.
• We also leave out the 26 jobs on our timelines whose code the 2018 revision split, merged or renamed (BLS 2010 to 2018 crosswalk), and any job whose count has a noted change of basis in between.
• Every change here spans May 2021, when BLS moved to a model-based estimate that pools three years of survey data. BLS republished the earlier years on that method only as research estimates, so the counts at the two ends were made in different ways. A row is marked when its step from May 2020 to May 2021 is at least 3 times the size of its typical other one-year step and at least a quarter the size of the whole change shown. 6 of the rows shown are marked.

What these numbers cannot tell you

• In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.
• BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.
• A count is a count of jobs, not of people: one person can hold two jobs, and the self-employed are not included.

Sources

• BLS OEWS national estimates, May 2012 and May 2025
• BLS, OEWS notice on the May 2021 estimates (new model-based method, MB3)
• BLS, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC crosswalk (November 2017)
• Each row also names the exact sources for its own figures.

Explore these jobs by industry

• Admin & Office
• Business & Finance
• Management
• Sales
• Transportation
• Food Service

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