Best Job Prospects with an Emergency Management Degree

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You have earned a degree in Emergency Management from one of our featured top online Bachelor’s degree programs or an on-campus format. We have also covered the best jobs with a degree in Emergency Management as an offering of prospective employment opportunities. Since the degree is a means to an end, that being employment, this article reveals some of the occupational differences across the nation.

Employment opportunities can vary from state to state in most occupations. As well, the job growth rate or change varies by occupation. One of the best sources of data is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). According to their website, the BLS of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. This agency has been providing economic information since 1884.

The BLS reports on the occupation in this field for the title of Emergency Management Director. They report that the job outlook for 2014-2024 is expected to change 6% or 700 jobs out of a total employment number of 10,500 as of 2014. That percentage is an average growth/change rate. Since 700 jobs sound relatively small, where are there likely to be more jobs available? Geographically, the state of California is tops with 900 employed as emergency management directors. New York follows with 600, Texas with 480, Virginia 440, and Pennsylvania employing 430. These are the top five spots for total employees in this particular profession.

When you look at the statistics highest number employed by metropolitan area, you see an entirely different employment market. California has one city in the top ten metro areas for EM directors per the BLS, at slot number three. This is San Francisco-Redwood City area, which employs 220 directors; the number one is the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area with 370 employed or .15 per 1,000 jobs. This data are in accord with the Data USA statistics. This firm also reports the second highest number of directors is employed in the District of Columbia. Their number one location for total numbers is Wilkes-Barre & Hazelton cities, Pennsylvania. Through advanced data analytics and visualization, Data USA accumulates their information reports occupations, from teachers to welders to web developers, and numerous industries.

We touched on the number of jobs per 1,000 or concentration in the previous paragraph. Analyzing the concentration of jobs, the BLS has Idaho Falls, Idaho first with 0.54 per 1,000, though there was a paltry 30 employed as EM directors in May 2016. In contrast, Data USA reports a “relatively high concentration of EM directors” in Olympia, Washington, and District of Columbia. No further data are provided.

Another way to look at job prospects is by researching employment sites such as indeed.com. Under the title of Emergency Management Specialist, there are 1,356 jobs listed as of September 2017. Not all of these are applicable to EM as there are jobs posted unrelated to the described position, for example, emergency veterinarian. The state of Washington has 2,902 jobs listed under the title of emergency management. This demonstrates that there are plenty of job opportunities across the country.

If money is at or near the top of your shopping list, then California is the place to be. You will probably encounter a higher cost of living, but from a median wage perspective, the top five cities are this state. The highest average annual salary is in San Francisco and environs at $136,550 per the BLS as of May 2016. The number ten slot is another high cost of living city-Seattle at $101,840 median wage.

Job searching can be an unnerving task; however, there are scores of employment sites, as we illustrated in a prior paragraph. Therefore, a review of actual job postings should proffer the best view of where the jobs are available by industry and by location.