08-02-2006

Recent career rankings of leading media outlets suggest that students returning to school this fall should give serious consideration to pursuing careers in the field of communication sciences and disorders.
In January 2006, US News and World Report found audiology in first place among “Excellent Careers of 2006.” Subsequently, a ranking by MONEY Magazine and Salary.com listed speech-language pathology to be among the 50 top jobs in America.

“As the leading national organization representing both professions, we are pleased to see corroborated by others what we’ve long known to be the case,” says Alex Johnson, president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Rockville, Md. “A career path in the field of communication sciences and disorders is a wonderful and rewarding choice. We strongly encourage students to give it serious consideration.”

US News and World Report listed audiologists No. 1 based on information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. US News cites above average pay and a strong job market growing by 9-17% as Baby Boomers age.

MONEY Magazine and Salary.com highlighted above average pay and a 10-year job growth of 14.57% as primary factors in speech language pathology coming in 38th among the top 50 jobs. Flexible and creative work environments were also mentioned as job benefits.

“Besides the promise reflected in these polls, it is important to note that these careers are playing significant roles in some of the leading concerns of society,” says Johnson. “For example, audiologists have led the way raising the potential risk of hearing loss from unsafe usage of personal audio technology that is so popular today…”

[SOURCE: ASHA, July 10, 2006]