This surprising industry is replacing tech as the hottest career path
Tech's reign as the ultimate career destination is showing signs of decline.
Tech's reign as the ultimate career destination is showing signs of decline. Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor, joined TheStreet to discuss why the tech industry is losing its luster among job seekers and the surprising industry that's now capturing top talent in 2025.
Related: Top 5 best places to work, according to Glassdoor
Full Video Transcript Below:
DANIEL ZHAO: So I think that tech has lost some of its luster. It's still very attractive because it pays well because it has it does often have a little bit more of a flexible culture than some of these other industries. But clearly there has been a pullback, right? There has been this swing in power in in the job market away from employees and back towards employers. And that means that some employers feel like they can be a little bit stricter about things like working in the office or, or maybe not offering as big a raise this year. So kind of as that power shifts back towards employers, there are some things that employees feel like they're losing as a result.
CONWAY GITTENS: I'm glad you brought that up, because when we look at the list, tech used to dominate at the top and this year, not so much. What exactly is happening in the world of tech and labor relations in terms of how people feel like it's the best place to work?
DANIEL ZHAO: Well, yeah. So I think a few years ago tech was really growing extremely quickly during during the pandemic recovery. Right and so you had people who were entering tech or switching jobs within tech could get a huge raise. They could find career growth opportunities very easily. But now we're seeing some of that reverse, right. We're seeing some of these big tech companies say, oh, well, we need to trim costs. We need to trim management layers, we need to be more efficient. And so as a result, I think you are seeing a lot of tech employees feel like it's not quite as it is not necessarily as great as it was a few years ago, but it is still attractive for a lot of people because, you know, it doesn't necessarily require, say, like the training that you would need to become a doctor. Right so for if you were an undergrad and you're trying to figure out what you want to study, you can go to premed, you could do pre-law, or you could try to get into tech right out of college and earn a lot of money and work at a company that is still going to be more flexible than some of the more traditional sectors. But it's still clearly there has been this swing in power back towards employers. And so, you know, the benefits and perks might not be quite as good as it would have been a few years ago.
CONWAY GITTENS: So if tech is not the hot sector as it was, what is the new kid on the block?
DANIEL ZHAO: Well, I think it's actually interesting. We've seen healthcare, biotech, pharma kind of pick up a few spots in the list, right? So they're one of the risers. And I think some of that is because as people feel this, this sort of anxiety about the economy and the job market. Healthcare is an industry that tends to be much more resilient from economic headwinds. You know, everybody needs health care. Even if the economy slows down, people are going to continue to need health care. And as a result, that industry continues to grow. It continues to hire. And then on top of that, there are also these pharma companies like Eli Lilly in the top 10 that are really at the forefront of innovation in a way that that people like. They're more of a household name than they might have been, you know, even a few years ago with how much GLP one are in the news. So I think that they offer an attractive value proposition for employees or job seekers who are trying to find some stability while still working at that forefront of innovation.
