Some of the highest employment rates aligned with demand occupations include the 82 percent employment share for completers of the building/property maintenance certificate; the administrative assistant and secretarial science, general certificate program (72 percent) and associate degree program (69percent); and the customer service management certificate program with an 83 percent employment rate and average salary of more than $52,400. Other programs with employment greater than 70 percent were the medical office assistant/specialist certificate program; medical insurance coding; and the health information/medical records administration post bachelor’s certificate program. The medical records master’s degree program had lower placement but an average salary of more than $63,000. In the more mathematically technical areas, the management science post bachelor’s certificate completers experienced a placement rate of 69 percent and an average salary of $74,130; the business statistics master’s degree completers had an employment rate of 55 percent and average salary of $75,851. The lower placement rates in some of the managerial programs may be due to wage and employment data only being available for program completers who were employed in Tennessee; data on employment in other states were not available.
Finance Occupations Tennessee’s finance and insurance sector42 has experienced some of the largest growth in the nation in the last few years. The industry’s employment grew by 11 percent or 11,400 net new jobs over the last five years (2016-2021). Tennessee‘s finance sector ranks 8th highest among all states by rate of job growth over this period.43 The sector’s growth is evidenced by companies such as Alliance Bernstein and Ernst & Young who have established major new operations in Tennessee within recent years. Accountants and auditors are in-demand across all of Tennessee’s regions. These positions typically require a bachelor’s degree or higher. Nearly 500 of the online job postings for accountants include seeking a candidate with an American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) certification.44 Financial managers are in-demand in a majority of Tennessee’s regions, and typically make over $100,000 in Tennessee. Financial managers make up 8 percent of the total annual projected job openings in management occupations. Industries in which they typically work include accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services; headquarters
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) - 52 Finance and Insurance TNECD evaluation of employment data from EMSI (2021.4 QCEW employees) 44 Jobs4TN.gov, Occupation Data, Occupation Summary 42 43
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RDA SW38
