A semi-truck at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College on July 28, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. Truck driver is among the jobs in northeast Wisconsin expected to have the most openings from 2022 to 2032. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Learn which jobs are growing the fastest, find out which ones are shrinking, and search for data on specific jobs.
By Miranda Dunlap
Wisconsin Watch and
Natalie Yahr
Wisconsin Watch
What are the roughly 450,000 workers in northeast Wisconsin doing for a living? And how will that change in the next decade? We pored over state workforce data to find out.
Below are six charts you can use to make sense of which jobs are growing and shrinking across the region.
Wisconsin Watch also published a version with data that encompasses jobs across the entire state.
This article is solely focused on job trends in northeast Wisconsin. As we continue to build our new northeast Wisconsin bureau, you can expect us to provide more stories tailored to the region.
Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development — the state agency from which we sourced this data — defines the “Bay Area” as Brown, Door, Florence, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano and Sheboygan counties.
To learn more about any of these jobs, including what the work entails, how much it pays and how to get trained, visit a website like careeronestop.org, onetonline.org or skillexplorer.wisconsin.gov.
Jobs growing rapidly
Home health and personal care aides are the fastest-growing occupation in the region, expected to add nearly 1,200 jobs by 2032. Wisconsin will need more workers to assist older adults as the state’s population continues to age significantly, with the number of residents over the age of 74 expected to increase 41% between 2020 and 2030.
Several of the occupations on this list are already some of the most popular in the region, so the hundreds to thousands of jobs they’re expected to add represent a smaller share of the area’s overall workforce. When looking at growth by percentage, some other occupations are expected to add a smaller number of jobs, but they will constitute a larger share of the workforce.
The occupations expected to grow most percentage-wise include:
- Nurse practitioners, projected to grow 62% by adding 450 jobs.
- Data scientists, projected to grow 47% by adding 148 jobs.
- Physician assistants, projected to grow 41% by adding 128 jobs.
- Actuaries, projected to grow 41% by adding 49 jobs.
- Information security analysts, projected to grow 41% by adding 115 jobs.
Jobs with the most openings
Some occupations have lots of openings each year — not necessarily because the industry is growing but because there are more people leaving their roles.
Many of the jobs projected to have the most future openings have low barriers to entry, meaning they don’t require formal education or certification to obtain. They also pay relatively low wages — for example, topping the list is fast food counter workers, who made an average salary of $27,890 in the region in 2024.
Most common jobs
Many of the jobs that have the most openings each year are also the most common jobs for northeast Wisconsinites to hold.
The 10 most common occupations in the region span largely essential jobs, including the workers who treat you at the hospital, those keeping the region’s restaurant industry alive and the people who make sure your packages are safely packed and delivered.
The most rapidly shrinking jobs
While the paper industry has a strong foothold in the northeast, paper goods machine operators top the list for anticipated job loss. This includes workers who tend paper goods machines that convert, saw, corrugate or seal paper or paperboard sheets into products.
Other industries are expected to lose fewer jobs, but those losses will make a larger dent in the profession. Some of the occupations expected to lose the most percentage-wise are:
- Broadcast technicians, expected to lose 35 jobs, a 60% decrease.
- Word processors and typists, expected to lose 10 jobs, a 37% decrease.
- Nuclear engineers, expected to lose eight jobs, a 23% decrease.
- Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials, expected to lose 18 jobs for a 20% decrease.
- Data entry keyers, expected to lose 72 jobs, a 19% decrease.
Most of these occupations — telemarketers, typists and data entry keyers — are based on outdated technologies or practices, so the fact that they’re shrinking quickly may not be surprising.
Northeast Wisconsin’s ‘Hot Jobs’
Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development keeps a list of the “Hot Jobs” in every region of the state. To be classified as such, the occupation must pay above the state’s median salary, have an above-average growth rate and top the list of projected job openings.
Use the table to explore what education and training northeast Wisconsin’s “Hot Jobs” provide, what they pay and how they’re expected to grow.
Note: This data may be slightly skewed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The department says it accounts for pandemic impacts “as accurately as possible.” Some occupations that regularly have large growth rates didn’t make the cut if they didn’t show a significant decline in 2020 followed by a notable recovery, the department notes.
See how any job is expected to change
Is there a job you’re curious about that didn’t make one of our charts? Use this searchable database of hundreds of occupations to see how each is expected to change in the northeast region by 2032.
We’re planning follow-up coverage related to Wisconsin’s fastest-growing fields. Which jobs would you like to learn more about? Fill out this short Google form to let us know.
Miranda Dunlap reports on pathways to success in northeast Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus. Connect with her on X, Instagram or Bluesky. Email her at mdunlap@wisconsinwatch.org.
Natalie Yahr reports on pathways to success in Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus. Email her at nyahr@wisconsinwatch.org.
This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab, a consortium of six news outlets.
This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.