The 15 Most Wanted Workers in Future.

This winter there seems to have been an explosion of positive employment news that’s left skeptics wondering, “Is this news too good to be true?” and job seekers crying foul.

While we are not out of the woods yet, President Barack Obama was cautiously optimistic in a recent radio address. “Even as we have come a long way, we still have a ways to go,” Obama said. “No matter what the economic statistics say, I won’t be satisfied until folks who need work can find good jobs. After a recession that stole 8 million jobs, this is going take some time.”

“By 2018, with no change in current labor force participation rates or immigration rates and an expected return to healthy economic growth, we will have more jobs than people to fill them,” wrote Barry Bluestone, dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, and Mark Melnik, deputy director for research at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, in their report “After the Recovery: Help Needed.”

The report, which was sponsored by MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures, a think tank on baby boomers, work and social purpose, predicts that within the next eight years there could be at least 5 million job vacancies in the United States, nearly half of them (2.4 million) in social sector jobs in education, health care, government and nonprofit organizations.

The report identified 15 jobs expected to provide the largest number of potential new career opportunities in the coming decade.

1. Business operations specialists
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 1.6 million*
Current U.S. salary: $44,522**

2. Child-care workers
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 532,1000
Current U.S. salary: $24,354

3. Clergy
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 217,700
Current U.S. salary: $51,746

4. General and operations managers
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 502,200
Current U.S. salary: $94,706

5. Home health aides
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 552,700
Current U.S. salary: $27,345

6. Licensed practical and vocational nurses
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 391,300
Current U.S. salary: $44,738 for LPNs; $39,272 for vocational nurses

7. Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 4,223,000
Current U.S. salary: $30,494 for nursing aides; $33,822 for orderlies; $24,695 for attendants

8. Medical assistants
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 217,800
Current U.S. salary: $35,986

9. Medical and health service managers
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 99,400
Current U.S. salary: $39,956

10. Personal and home care aides
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 477,800
Current U.S. salary: $27,345

11. Receptionists and information clerks
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 480,200
Current U.S. salary: $30,887

12. Registered nurses
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 1.04 million
Current U.S. salary: $61,423

13. Social and human service assistants
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 153,900
Current U.S. salary: $34,324

14. Teachers
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 2.68 million
Current U.S. salary: $54,273 for all; $35,810 for elementary; $47,603 for high school; $68,456 for post-secondary

15. Teacher assistants
Total job openings due to growth and replacement needs: 412,700
Current U.S. salary: $24,429