Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians Are Among Top Growth Jobs for Next Decade
U.S. News & World Report identifies medical technologists as among best career opportunities in healthcare
Laboratory technologists and laboratory technicians are a top career for 2010, as identified by U.S. News & World Report’s (USNWR) new annual list of the top 50 careers list. Clinical laboratories will be pleased that the lab technologist career is third in the healthcare category, after X-ray technician and veterinarian.
Editors at U.S. News & World Report laud the role of laboratory techs, writing that “Clinical lab technicians and technologists are very much the unsung heroes of the healthcare industry.” USNWR’s 2010 career list ranks occupations in five categories according to anticipated job growth and median average income.
The analysis was based on the U.S. Labor Department’s latest job growth projections for 2008 to 2018. It highlights occupations that are expected to add jobs above the anticipated 10% average growth rate over the next decade and which will also provide a better-than-average median income.
Medical technologist (MT), clinical laboratory scientist (CLS), and medical laboratory technician (MLT) jobs are expected to rise 16%. The fastest job growth will come from clinical laboratories, pathology laboratories, and physician office laboratories (POLs). Last year, the pay range for a laboratory technologist was $28,420 to $44,310 and that puts overall median pay at $35,380, but U.S. News & World Report notes that some lab tech pay packages topped $54,000.
Here is USNWR’s list of America’s Best Careers 2010: Healthcare, with lab technician ranked as third:
2. Veterinarian
8. Optometrist
9. Physical Therapist Assistant
10. Dental Hygienist
The analysis done by U.S. News & World Report includes occupations in each category with a range of educational requirements and other data when available, including such factors as job satisfaction, work environment, opportunity for mobility, and turnover. Lab tech jobs in clinical laboratories were described as low-stress, but, similar to hospital patient-care areas, medical laboratories often require 24-hour coverage.
Preparation is relatively minimal in terms of cost and time compared to other healthcare professions. A medical laboratory technician requires typically just a technician certificate or two-year associates degree for an entry-level position in a clinical laboratory.
Another positive factor for job growth in MT, CLS, and MLT positions, according to USNWR, is the fact that health care stands out as the only industry that expanded payrolls during the recession due to increasing demand for healthcare services.
High demand for healthcare services over the last decade may be just a tip of the iceberg of what’s to come, however. Editors at U.S. News & World Report write that “The growth trend in healthcare is almost unstoppable: Millions and millions of aging baby boomers will continue to place a heightened demand on healthcare providers, as well as provide plenty of opportunity for medical innovation.”
Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists may want to make the U.S. News & World Report list of “50 Best Careers of 2010” part of their medical technologist recruiting package. It validates the fact that demand for MTs, CLS’, and MLTs will remain quite strong for many years into the future. – P. Kirk
Related Information:
The 50 Best Careers of 2010 as chosen by U.S. News & World Report
America’s Best Careers 2010: Healthcare
America’s 50 Best Careers of 2010: Laboratory Technician
Wall Street Journal Headline: ‘Staff Shortages in Labs May Put Patients at Risk’
Lab Workers Make “10 Germiest Jobs in America” List
Having spent the last 39 years as a clinical laboratory scientist, I find this article [written by U.S. News & World Report] to be QUITE misleading, although it is about time that someone thought to put this much-needed career in the public eye! Please understand that, to be a clinical lab scientist, a FOUR year degree PLUS a year internship is required. It is a stressful job-every result that goes out could cause someone to die! Of course, we like to be more positive and say that we save lives, which is certainly more the case, although the good that we do in saving those lives does not rate the news coverage that a disaster does.Also, the monetary compensation is usually somewhat more that the stated salary range. It is a rewarding job…please remember that we tell the pharmacist what drugs are needed, the physician whether a patient is too anemic for surgery, the nurse whether the patient needs to be isolated from her other patients because of infection…whether blood transfusions are needed…the list goes on.
Again, it is good to see this career mentionned in a positive light. The facts are simply not what I have personally experienced.
Reading the article would leave me cold when it came to choosing to be a lab tech. I have been in this profession and recognize that the author has not spent any time in a hospital laboratory. More than 70 % of the objective information on a patient’s chart comes from the laboratory. We are giving clean,scientifically founded, and precise results to the physician. Unlike other professions that work in the hospital, there are no physicians reviewing our work, no middle man (woman) to review, inspect, direct our results. Just the clinical lab professionals do that. We are not handing off an Xray to a physician, reading the physicians pharmacy orders or calling the attending for answers. Please do not look at this as being mean spirited to other professionals but I know when it comes to objective information… black and white information, it is the technologists who do it. The reason our profession was started was because early physicians didn’t have the time to spend in the lab and gave those duties to the scientist, while the patient’s bed and feeding were given to nurses. Nurses being aware of their potential took their professiona and made it indispensible. I agree they are indispensible. We techs were stuck in the lab away from the patients. No one noticed us and we let our main organization ASCP be responsible for our legacy. Unfortunately ASCP was run by physicians and they kept us in the basements, while nursing pulled ahead.
Thre is no malice meant, it is just how many of us see our profession. 89 % of my colleagues in this laboratory are bachelor degreed, how many of our nurses are… not nearly that high, but we are still in the basement. My advise..pick a position that you love and be happy. I have been in the blood bank since 1970 and have loved every stressful minute even while knowing the docs and the nurses are given the kudos for our work.