Two charts that show nursing is the job of the future

A new spotlight on statistics from the Audrey Watson at the Bureau of Labor Statistics underscores that if you don't have elite credentials and you're considering a career, you might want to take a good hard look at nursing.

These are the most common jobs in America:

(Bureau of Labor Statistics)

And here's what they pay:

(Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Although registered nurses are the largest occupation with above-average earnings, the larger health care sector is full of opportunities. The "health care practitioners and technical" occupational category contains a total of 7.8 million workers at an average wage of $74,740 — well above the national average.

And one great virtue of health care occupations is that there is demand for nurses and dentists and such basically everywhere that people live. You don't need to be part of a handful of specific geographical clusters to take advantage of your skills the way that you do for many other relatively high paid jobs.

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