Many STEM-related occupations in Central New York continue to grow — same with healthcare, social assistance and educational services, among others
By Deborah Jeanne Post
Whether you’re looking for work or an area for investment, CNY is on the grow with several industries rapidly expanding.
“The Central New York economy is seeing increasing demand for workers across many diverse industries and occupations,” said Okoye Davis, public information office with the New York State Department of Labor. “Specifically, the region is experiencing growth in several high-tech sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology and unmanned aerial vehicles.”
He added that many STEM-related occupations in Central New York are growing (see table accompanying this story).
“As the population in Central New York ages and baby boomers retire from the labor market, there is increasing demand to fill job openings in large sectors like healthcare and social assistance and educational services,” Davis said.
In addition to the gaps left by boomers retiring from healthcare and social services, this age demographic is driving demand by their own need to receive these services as consumers.
Local infrastructure and industry development is also driving ongoing growth.
“The large ongoing Micron building construction project and the I-81 road construction project are also creating many job opportunities for workers over the next decade,” Davis said.
These jobs include those directly related to these projects as well as associated employment.
Davis said that specialty trade contractors in construction are in great need, including trades such as electricians, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters and HVAC mechanics and installers.
“Many of these positions are trained through apprenticeships,” Davis said. “The large Interstate 81 road construction project is generating many local jobs across a wide range of trades including construction laborers projected to grow at a 6.4% rate and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators at 7.3% over the next several years.
“Construction of the Micron Technology semiconductor manufacturing facility in Onondaga County is also creating thousands of job opportunities that will continue over the next two decades. Additionally, retirements among baby boomers will open up further job opportunities in this industry over the next decade. The specialty trade contractors sector paid a particularly high annual average wage of $86,200 in 2025, the second highest on the significant industries list.”
New York and specifically Central New York is becoming a boom area for advanced manufacturing, including defense-related contracts and microchips. Construction on the semiconductor manufacturing facility is underway in Clay and “is expected to generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs as the project progresses,” Davis said. “Computer and electronic product manufacturing paid the highest annual average wage among all significant industries in 2025, at $117,500 and employment in the sector is projected to grow by over 60% through 2032, making it the fastest-growing industry in the region. Typical occupations include electrical, electronic and electromechanical assemblers (23.9% growth rate); software developers (NA); and industrial engineers (20%).”
The education sector employs more people in the region than any other at 47,800, including schools, colleges, and training institutions in private and public sectors. Davis called demand strong as, once again, it’s the retiring boomers that are leaving gaps in the field as well as fewer young people pursuing education.
“The most common job titles in this industry are teaching assistants (18.2% growth rate), elementary school teachers (18.9%) and secondary school teachers (19%),” David said. “Teaching specialties in demand include science, math, English as a second language, special education, technology and foreign languages.”
CNY has always been a magnet for healthcare workers because of the providers and educators in healthcare in the area. Davis said that the high need was exacerbated by the 20% of all healthcare workers who left the field during the pandemic since some of these were people who retired early. Many of these roles are not yet filled.
“Healthcare and educational services employ many people (32,700 jobs or 9.5% of all jobs in the region in 2025), added jobs between 2020 and 2025 and are expected to continue to grow through 2032 as demand for elder care services rises,” Davis said.
As a subset of healthcare, “ambulatory healthcare services employs 18,500 people in the region’s private sector and paid an average annual wage of $83,200 in 2025, well above the regional average.”
Almost every healthcare role is expected to grow in the next 10 years. Davis cited as examples of common and growing occupations in ambulatory health care services to include home health and personal care aides (33.7% growth rate), registered nurses (21.6%) and medical assistants (28.8%).
Briana Calabrese, market director and vice president of finance & accounting, and administrative & customer support at Robert Half Recruiters & Employment Agency in Rochester and Syracuse, also said that manufacturing is very hot right now, along with healthcare.
In addition, “we’ve seen a lot of healthcare clients implementing system changes and software changes,” Calabrese said. “Anytime an organization is going through a software change, it increases the workload.
“We focus a lot on contract internal support. A lot of individuals take their employees to help with that implementation which creates a gap in their seat. EMRs. We’re seeing an increase with system implementation and software changes. There are new positions as well.”
