Here are the top job disruptors for 2018
The US job market is as strong as it's been since the recession, with unemployment at a 17-year low and Americans reporting rising job satisfaction in each of the last six years.
Yet that doesn't mean everyone is happy with their work. Indeed, even though job satisfaction is on the rise, only half of Americans are happy at work, with workers telling The Conference Board earlier this year that they are most dissatisfied with opportunities for advancement and recognition.
Despite solid economic growth, not all workers are seeing the benefits, said Glassdoor chief economist Andrew Chamberlain. Americans who work in jobs impacted by automation or outsourcing aren't enjoying the same types of wage gains as those in quickly growing industries.
While the job market is strong as it enters 2018, the labor market may increasingly represent a land of haves and have-nots, where only in-demand workers see a lift from the growing economy.
"There is a lot of diversity under the surface," Chamberlain said. "It's not just one labor market. If you are a registered nurse, or a pharmacy technician or in any of these health care jobs, you are seeing wages grow faster than the national average."
He added, "But if you are a maintenance worker, you are seeing wages that are flat or falling."
The labor market is in for more change next year, ranging from technology disruption to demand created by demographic changes, according to Glassdoor research. Here's what the employment site says are likely to be three of the biggest trends shaking things up in 2018.
AI will enter HR and finance. There have been a lot of predictions about how automation and artificial intelligence will hollow out the labor market, leading to widespread job losses. That isn't playing out exactly as forecasted, Chamberlain said.
Instead, routine tasks like executing trades in the financial sector will increasingly be handled by AI, while workers will take on higher-level jobs that require human skills, like creating personal relationships, Glassdoor said.
"As AI is taking over some of these tasks, it's making companies much more profitable," Chamberlain said. "It's cutting their labor costs and eliminating errors. It's allowing them to branch out in different ways, offering more services and through mobile apps."
He isn't seeing evidence of job losses, and suspects the automation of finance and HR will be similar to the spread of ATMs in the 1980s, which made cashiers more productive and banks more profitable. "There are more bank tellers employed today than in the 1980s," Chamberlain said.
A job market pushed by demographic change. The aging baby-boomer generation is creating job growth in the health care industry, Glassdoor noted. Four of the 15 jobs projected to add the most jobs over the next decade are in health care, such as home health care aides and medical assistants.
Technology jobs will also continue to be in demand, but not only at tech firms. Companies across industry need workers with tech skills, from data analysis to programming, Chamberlain said.
Transparency for job hunters. Applying for a job can feel like throwing your resume into a black hole. That lack of transparency in the hiring process is described as a "major pain point" by Glassdoor.
Some employers are responding to that by allowing applicants to track the progress of their applicants, Glassdoor said. Johnson & Johnson created a transparent hiring platform this year that allows applicants to track their status in the hiring process, a tool that Glassdoor expects other companies to emulate.