The secret’s out—healthcare’s the “it” industry.  For professionals in the sector, and those businesses providing goods and services to it, business is booming, and will do so for the foreseeable future.

The question still looms, though, what else is growing in the capital area? Where else do business and career opportunities lie? Among the hottest, fastest growing occupations are positions from computer software engineers and database administrators to amusement and recreation attendants.

It’s no coincidence the Lansing economy consistently fares better than most of the state, according to Mark Reffitt, an economic analyst with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. He says the economy in Lansing is surprisingly diverse, with the largest sector being government. Even within the government sector, Reffitt points out, there’s diversity. Local and state positions, federal agencies, the public school system, Lansing Community College and Michigan State University are all encompassed in the industry.

Education and health services employment is expected to have the largest gains in quantity of jobs added, according to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, with much of that growth in healthcare. The industry is expected to grow by 8,070 jobs, a 13 percent increase in industry size from 2002 to 2012. The jobs will range from accountants and janitors to 295 home health aides and 685 registered nurses.  Local hospitals alone are expected to add nearly 1,000 jobs.

General Motors, state government and Michigan State University are seen as the three pillars of the Lansing economy. According to Tim Brannan, executive director of the newly created Capital Health Care and Employment Council, with a $1.4 billion economic impact locally, we should start looking at healthcare as a fourth pillar.

Local hospitals and other employers formed the Capital Health Care and Employment Council to help address pending worker shortages. 

Todd Brewer, school director of Career Quest Learning Center, a vocational career school, has seen a tremendous demand for support positions to the healthcare field.  According to Brewer, there’s a huge demand for medical office support positions such as front office support, billing, coding, health insurance processing and even medical terminology.

Professional and business services, on the other hand, will not grow quite as much in quantity, adding 6,860 jobs to the capital area, but has the fastest growth rate, a whopping 30 percent.  The industry encompasses a number of the fastest growing occupations, primarily those within computers. 

During the 1990s IT boom, many people commanded huge salaries in IT, Brewer explained. When the dot-com bubble burst, he said, jobs were lost; but now those IT hot jobs are starting to come back.

What, specifically, are those hot jobs? Computer software engineers in systems software is expected to grow by 67 percent, adding 155 jobs, while computer software engineers in applications will grow by 55 percent, adding 190 jobs. Other rapidly growing occupations in the high-tech world are network systems and data communication analysts, database administrators, network and computer systems administrators and computer and information managers.

The wages in computers match the high-skill levels needed, with the low-end around $48,000 annually for network and computer systems administrators and computer software engineers in applications topping out at well over $69,000.

For many people, though, commanding those salaries will be a bottom-up process, said Brewer, requiring many employees to simply get their foot in the door and work their way up.

What about Lansing’s good old standby industry? Is the manufacturing leg of the Lansing economy going to disappear? Not so, said Bob Sherer, executive director of the Capital Area Manufacturing Council.

Contrary to what people may believe, manufacturing will never cease to exist, he explained, because it will simply continue to produce more and more goods with fewer and fewer people.

How many fewer people? Likely only about 3 percent, and certain occupations within manufacturing are still in high demand, such as high-tech, high-skill occupations like machine tool programmers, machine builders, robotics and numerical control machine maintenance technicians and safety engineers.

Another high-demand, high-wage career in manufacturing—sales. The capital area is expected to add 535 new wholesale/manufacturing sales representatives who will, on average, command $27.05 an hour, or a little more than $56,000 per year.

The capital area is often misinterpreted as being a manufacturing-only economy, explained Reffitt; but in his eyes, the area’s real strength is its diversity. Other cities may have one or two of the assets the capital area possesses—a major university, large healthcare systems or manufacturing plants—but very few areas can boast as many different economic drivers as the Lansing region.

		Douglas E. Stites is the CEO of Capital Area Michigan Works!, a special purpose unit of government committed to connecting job seekers and employers through innovative programs for both.