Purpose
Exploring your career interests is exciting but can feel overwhelming. That's where we come in. Career Pathways in Southwestern Pennsylvania is an online resource that helps high school students explore their career interests and learn about occupations in our region. Are you ready to explore your career pathways?
Get started using the functionality on the right. Create an account to save opportunities you learn about to view them later.
The Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland operates this website, which was developed by Mathematica through a grant from Westmoreland County. Economic Growth Connection is a nonprofit organization that works with school districts and businesses to foster economic growth in our region. For more information, reach out to our team at Economic Growth Connection.
Explore careers that share common characteristics and skills! Learn about occupations that are in demand and provide a sustaining wage.
Search for occupations that align with your interests. There are hundreds of occupations you can search! Use search filters to hone your results.
Southwestern Pennsylvania is a thriving region with many opportunities for employment. Learn why our region is a great place to build your career.
Key Terms
Annual openings
Estimated number of job openings for an occupation in a year.
Career cluster
Occupations that are in the same broad field of work that require similar skills.
Change in total jobs
Projected percentage change in jobs in an occupation between the base year and projection year.
Counties
Geographical regions that comprise workforce development areas, which are the units for labor market data on this website. Workforce development areas can include one or more counties.
Education typically needed
Typical education or training a person needs to enter an occupation.
Entry wage
Representative of the wage paid to people who are just beginning a new job and have no previous experience in the occupation.
Experienced wage
Representative of the wage paid to people with a number of years of experience in the occupation.
High-priority occupation
In demand by employers and likely to provide family-sustaining wages. High-priority occupations are identified annually within each workforce development area by the state along with local educational institutions, economic development agencies, and workforce development boards.
Median wage
The midpoint (i.e., 50th percentile) of the distribution of annual wages in an occupation.
Work experience typically needed
Amount of work experience in a related occupation that a person typical needs to enter that occupation.
Data Sources
For career clusters and cluster descriptions, we combined clusters listed on CareerOneStop as shown in the table below. This website lists some occupations under multiple clusters.
| CAREER CLUSTERS ON THIS WEBSITE | CAREER CLUSTERS ON CAREERONESTOP |
|---|---|
| Arts, Audio/Video Technology, and Communications | Arts, Audio/Video Technology, and Communications |
| Business, Finance, and Information Technologies | Business Management and Administration Finance Marketing Information Technology Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics |
| Health Sciences | Health Sciences Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources |
| Human Services, Hospitality, and Public Administration | Human Services Education and Training Hospitality and Tourism Government and Public Administration Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security |
| Engineering, Industry, and Manufacturing Technology | Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Architecture and Construction Manufacturing Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources |
| Future of work | Occupations related to: Advanced manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Robotics |
Note: We created the future of work cluster by searching the O*NET Online database for closely related occupations to the terms listed in the table. Occupations in this cluster are also listed under either the business, finance, and information technologies cluster or the engineering, industry, and manufacturing technology cluster.
For occupation descriptions, skills, and characteristics, we used data from the O*NET Online database, which provides detailed information on nearly 1,000 occupations.
For typical education and work experience requirements, we used education and training data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For wages, job openings, job growth projections, and to indicate high-priority occupations, we used data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis. The data are aggregated into groups of one to three counties called workforce development areas. Wage data are from May 2022. Job openings and projections are for 2020 to 2030, and exclude data for occupations with fewer than 10 total jobs. High-priority occupations are as of August 2023.
For high school courses to help prepare for types of occupations, we use lists of elective courses that school districts that partner with Economic Growth Connection offered in the 2023-2024 school year.