The 15 jobs with the biggest salary increases

You have read or seen the news about the federal minimum wage increase, but what about pay increases elsewhere? CareerTrends, a website that offers career information, compiles the most recent available data from the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (run by the state of Utah under contract with the U.S. Department of Labor) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in order to answer this question. CareerTrends then ranked the jobs according to their percent increase in salary from 2010 to 2015. Only jobs with at least 1,000 employees were considered for compiling the list.

What does this mean for advisors everywhere? The increase in wages also presents an opportunity to better serve the middle market, since now there will be more investible assets that you can manage.

While some careers might appear odd to you at first, there are plenty of opportunities to advise these clients. Rail yard engineers and animal breeders need to know how to handle their long-term health care planning or their long-term financial plan, just like any other professional.

What about jobs within the financial industry? Personal financial advisers — yes, with an “e” — and brokerage clerks also made it on this list, and at fairly impressive rankings, too.

While the CareerTrends list includes 25 occupations in total, here you will find the top 15 jobs:

No. 15: Rail yard engineers

Percent increase: 20.8%

2010 average salary: $35,014

2015 average salary: $42,301

Employment: 3,900

No. 14: Petroleum engineers

Percent increase: 21.3%

2010 average salary: $97,307

2015 average salary: $118,063

Employment: 33,740

No. 13: Conservation Science Professors

Percent increase: 21.8%

2010 average salary: $63,096

2015 average salary: $76,870

Employment: 1,850

No. 12: Personal financial advisers

Percent increase: 22.3%

2010 average salary: $65,672

2015 average salary: $80,285

Employment: 196,490

No. 11: Brokerage clerks

Percent increase: 22.7%

2010 average salary: $35,219

2015 average salary: $43,221

Employment: 57,240

No. 10: Air traffic controllers

Percent increase: 23.1%

2010 average salary: $80,968

2015 average salary: $99,658

Employment: 22,860

No. 9: Animal breeders

Percent increase: 23.8%

2010 average salary: $30,532

2015 average salary: $37,796

Employment: 1,110

No. 8: Actors

Percent increase: 25%

2010 average salary: $36,609

2015 average salary: $45,773