Top 10 Jobs Facing SEVERE Labor Shortages

These are the top 10 jobs in 2026 facing severe labor shortages. And by the time this video is over, I promise you at least one of these jobs is going to be the right fit for you. Some are in person, some are 100% online, some pay over 200,000 a year. A lot of them pay less than that. And some you can start in less than 6 months and others you can start way faster than that. And this is coming from someone who spent the last decade studying career trajectories, building businesses, and helping people pivot into industries that they actually love. And we have over a thousand verified testimonials of people that we've helped get jobs for. Now, a pattern that I see over and over again from people who end up landing jobs and landing them very quickly is the smart ones don't chase trends, they chase shortages. Because when an industry is short on workers, you have leverage. Not the employer, you. So, today I'm going to be walking you through every single one of these shortages. Where the money is, how to get in, and how to multiply your income on top of it. So, if you appreciate me making this type of content and you want to see more of it in the future, go ahead and gently tap that like button and let's jump into it right now. Now, quick heads up. Every single number you're about to see in this video comes from real sources. We're talking BLS, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the FAA, uh, Boeing, ISC2, American Welding Society, etc., etc. I am not making this stuff up. We're going to show you the receipts on screen for every single one. Also, heads up, these are in a specific order, and the first few are actually pretty surprising and weird, and they're also ones that almost nobody talks about. And then there's some really good ones at the end. So, whatever you do, just watch all of them. Don't skip to the end because there's going to be some ones that blow your mind. So, with that being said, let's dive into it right now. All right. The first one is going to be the deathproof career, which is mortician or funeral director. So, I'm starting with this one on purpose because it's morbid and most people watching this video would never even think about this as a career path, right? And we're talking about the mortuary industry, funeral directors, inbalmers, cremation specialists, cemetery managers, etc., etc. There are dozens of different jobs in this industry and almost every single one of them is severely understaffed right now. And the reason is simple. Most people just don't want to be associated with death. It's dark. It's emotional. It's heavy. And so the talent pool stays small while demand only grows. And there really only two things in life, as they say, that are absolutely certain, and that is death and taxes. And the one that's even more certain out of the two of them is death. Because while we don't all need accountants, we all do eventually need funeral directors, right? So, I think you get the point here. The data on this is wild. The National Funeral Directors Association, or NFDA, reports that over 60% of US funeral directors plan to retire by 2028. So, an industry that's already short on workers is about to lose more than half of its experienced people in the next 2 years. Meanwhile, deaths in the US are projected to keep climbing as the boomer generation ages. And mortary schools right now, they're reporting a 90% job placement rate for graduates. 90%. Most college majors would kill for numbers even close to as good as that. Now, you might be thinking, "But this is depressing. I can't see myself doing this work every day." And look, I get it. But the people I've talked to in this industry will tell you that it's actually one of the most meaningful careers out there. You're helping families during the worst moments of their lives. You're giving them peace. You're giving them closure and comfort. You're making them feel good at a time of need. And that is not depressing. That is a gift. So, let's talk about how to start in the funeral industry. If you have thick enough skin, look into accredited mortuary science programs. Most are one to two years for an associates degree. You can pass your state's licensing exam, and you can complete a paid apprenticeship at a funeral home, which is usually one to two years. Now, one thing is there are certain career paths you can get into without having to do any training or any of that kind of thing. For instance, funeral sales specialist is one you can get into without any training. But with that being said, one of the funny things is even this industry has a YouTube niche, right? So Caitlyn Dowy's channel, Ask a Mortician, has over 2 million subscribers. So, if you're worried it's too taboo for a personal brand, it's not. People are fascinated by this stuff. Hey, quick break. I'm going to be doing a live training this week on how to start a YouTube channel step by step for beginners. This is going to be for people who want to start a channel, but they don't know what niche to pick, what videos to make, or how to actually get started the right way. And it's a completely free training. No strings attached. In fact, I'm giving away even more bonuses at the training. So, just as an example, I'm going to be giving away my niche validator. Um, this is going to be available both for chatbt as well as claude, which is a super valuable piece of software where you can finally figure out what the best niche for you is. So, do not miss out on this training. Make sure you sign up for it down in the description and the pin comment below because you only get it if you join the training. So, if you don't join now, you might miss it. But that being said, in the workshop, you'll get to meet me and you'll get to ask me questions directly. So, I look forward to seeing you in there. So, click the link in the description and the pin comment below. Put it in your calendar and if for whatever reason you missed out on or you weren't able to attend, make sure you still click that link because we might be having workshops in the future as well and you'll be the first to know about it. So, yeah, hope to see you there. And now back to your regularly scheduled content. All right, number two is the $300,000 underwater job, and that is saturation diver or underwater welder. Now, if you've never heard of this job before, buckle up because this is one of the highest paying careers in the world that almost nobody talks about. And the reason almost nobody talks about it is because most people quite literally can't do it. Now, a saturation diver is somebody who lives in a pressurized chamber for weeks at a time. They get lowered down into the ocean, sometimes hundreds of feet below the surface or even more, and they perform welding, maintenance, and repair work on offshore rigs and underwater pipelines. And they typically breathe a custom mix of gases. They eat, sleep, and work under pressure. And when they finally come up, they have to decompress for days. And the pay here is absolutely insane. Daily rates of $1,000 to $1,500 are standard. Plus, you get depth pay, which can add thousands of dollars per project on top. So, we're talking $200 to $300,000 a year. And in many cases, they don't even work most of the year. And some of the most experienced sat divers in the highest pay regions are clearing way more than that. And get this, because of the work is in the compressed offshore stance, most sat divers actually take huge chunks of the year off. Like they'll work a few months out of the year and then they're done. A six figure salary and most of the year off. That is a lifestyle that most people would never know exists. So it's kind of like a high-end specialist surgeon. The skill ceiling is insane. The training is brutal, but the pool of people on Earth who can actually do this work is tiny. And there's an old saying in the industry, it's easier to teach a welder to dive than a diver to weld. So basically, the moat is high and the bidding war is real. Okay, so here's how to start with saturation diving or underwater welding. Step one, get welding certified first. For instance, the American Welding Society certifications or AWS. Step two, enroll in a commercial diving school. Programs typically run 6 to8 months and cost around 15 to $25,000 in the US. Step three, start with inland and inshore work to build hours. then move up to offshore and very quickly you will be making six figures and you can scale up to a lot more than that. Next is the six figure trade that nobody saw coming and that is elevator mechanic. Now I'll be honest with you when I first found this stat I thought it had to be a typo. I looked at the data three different times to make sure it was real. Elevator and escalator mechanics earn a median salary of $109,000 in May of 2025. And the top 10% earn $159,000 a year. Now, one thing I will say about trade careers is typically when you look them up, the reported salaries are typically quite a bit lower than the reality of what the salaries are. And a lot of that has to do with trade careers, in many cases, you get paid in cash. There's also a lot of overtime. And there's many different reasons for that. So, a lot of the time, if you see a $50,000 salary with a trade career, people are actually making six figures. So, when you see a $100,000 salary, these elevator mechanics are absolutely making bank. And the wildest part is you don't need a college degree to do this. Absolutely nothing. Now, why is this paying so well? Well, it's because the demand is insane and the talent pool is tiny. So, the CEO of Otus, that's the biggest elevator company in the world with 45,000 mechanics, literally went on record in May of this year and said, quote, "The demand is high. We cannot hire them fast enough." So, when the CEO of a Fortune 500 company is publicly begging for workers, that is a green light that you should go into it. And picture this, you are the only mechanic in the city who can fix Ferraris. Every Ferrari owner in town has to call you. They don't have a choice. And when they call you, you set the rate. That's the elevator industry right now, right? Every high-rise, every office building, every hospital, every airport, they all have elevators. They all need them maintained, and the building can't function without them. And here's where it gets even more interesting. There's actually a huge YouTube niche of people who are obsessed with elevators. Now, there's also people who talk about being elevator mechanics as well, but this niche is hilarious, right? It's people who film elevators in different buildings, review them, compare brands, talk about engineering. Millions of views combined. So, if you're an elevator mechanic with a phone and a willingness to film, you've got a built-in audience waiting. And of course, you can also talk about what it's like to be an elevator mechanic as well. So, here's how to get started. Apply to the International Union of Elevator Constructors or the IEC apprenticeship program. It's a 4-year paid apprenticeship you earn from day one while you learn. There's no college required. There's no student debt. You just apply, you get accepted, and you're on track to six figures by the time you're fully certified. All right. Next is the modern-day gold rush. And I think you all know what this is. AI, right? Specifically, AI, machine learning, engineers, and basically any type of job that's AI related, right? So, this is the biggest online job on this entire list and probably the biggest job opportunity of the next decade, right? And I want to be really clear about this one because what I'm about to tell you is going to sound made up and it's not. In February of 2026, Manpower Group released their annual global talent shortage survey. And they surveyed over 39,000 employers across 41 countries. And for the first time ever, artificial intelligence skills, right? Building AI, deploying AI, fine-tuning AI, overtook every other category to become the single hardest skill set to find globally. This is above traditional engineering, above it, above manufacturing, above everything. And the numbers are insane. There are roughly 1.6 6 million open AI roles globally with only about 518,000 qualified candidates to fill them. And that's three companies fighting for every one qualified person. So the average AI engineer paid just hit $26,000 a year, up from $50,000 from the year before. Senior specialists in LLM, fine-tuning, deep learning, computer vision. They're making 300 to 350,000. Picture the California gold rush in 1849. Except instead of gold in the rivers, every Fortune 500 company is sitting on a pile of cash waving it at anybody who can actually build AI that works in production. And that is where we are right now. And it's only going to get more intense in 2026 and 2027. And the wildest part is you do not need a PhD to do this. You don't even need a college degree. The barrier is skill. If you can build, train, and ship machine learning models that actually work in production, or just make stuff that works in general, or just vibe coding AI in general and make stuff that works, companies will throw a quarter million dollars at you, no questions asked. And as you'd expect, AI YouTubers are exploding right now. Andre Karpathy, for instance, has free YouTube tutorials that have transformed thousands of people's careers. And there's a lot of other channels as well. And these channels have multiple millions of subscribers, and they're just teaching this stuff for free. So you can literally learn this skill on YouTube and build your audience on YouTube at the same time and you can just build in public and document what you're learning. That is the move. Now, if you're going to be the one who's actually programming the AI, you're going to want to start with AI and machine learning engineering stuff. That does take a long time. I actually just recommend starting off with AI vibe coding. And to be completely honest with you, the employers only care about the end product, right? They only care that you're making something that is usable. And it's actually been reported that 95% of AI integrations fail. So if you can actually ship something that works and it's integrated correctly, you are going to be incredibly valuable. All right, next is the digital bodyguard, aka a cyber security professional. Now this is one of the biggest online opportunities on the list and honestly the numbers here might even be crazier than AI. So according to the 2025 ISC2 cyberc workforce study and ISC2 does survey over 16,000 cyber security professionals globally to put this together the world is currently short by 4.8 million cyber security professionals 4.8 million. And in the US alone the gap is around 700,000 unfilled positions. And every single year that gap doesn't get closed. The cyber attacks get worse and AI is making cyber attacks more sophisticated. Right? So, state sponsored attacks are increasing. Ransomware is now a billion-dollar criminal industry and companies are literally losing tens of millions of dollars per breach because they don't have enough security people on staff to stop it. So, picture a locksmith in a world where every single door is now digital. Every business has thousands of doors and every door is being constantly attacked 24/7 by thieves on the other side of the planet. That's the cyber security industry right now and there aren't enough locksmiths. So, the pay here, well, entry-level cyber security analysts starts around $80 to $100,000 a year. Mid-level penetration testers and security engineers are typically paid $120 to $180,000 a year. And senior roles like CISOs, principal security architects, etc. are paid 200 to $250,000, sometimes even $400,000 plus dollars a year depending on the company. And this is one of those industries where I've personally helped a lot of people pivot, right? Some of them came in as IT people, some of them came in fresh with just a certification and a willingness to grind and they are absolutely crushing it. So, cyber security YouTube is also one of the biggest tech niches on the platform. You know, you got people like Network Chuck, for instance, and a lot of others. And some of these channels have multi-million subscriber counts and the creators are running entire businesses on top of it. I've actually worked with a lot of people who ended up starting YouTube channels and becoming incredibly successful on YouTube, like Josh Madakor, for instance, who started making really useful content in the cyber security industry and the IT industry and ended up making a really good side hustle, then a full-time income, landed his dream job because of his YouTube channel, and then eventually scaled his business all the way up to seven figures from YouTube and $180,000 in a single month. But it's not just him. I also helped Nicole, who's in the cyber security industry, too. She had 85 subscribers when I first started helping her, and she scaled her YouTube channel all the way up to having an $80,000 month. And of course, she's making really good money with her YouTube channel now. And they're both helping other people land cyber security jobs. All right, next is the healthc care job that just won't quit. This is the healthcare job that is the absolute backbone of the healthcare industry. And this is coming from someone who comes from healthcare. I was a pharmacist myself. But the next one on the list is going to be the RN, the registered nurse, or just nurses in general. Now, I will be real with you. This one is a tough job, right? I'm not going to pretend like it's easy. The hours are long, the work is emotionally heavy, and the burnout rates are real. But the demand, well, there's really nothing else on this list that comes close to the long-term stability of nursing. Now, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is 189,100 RN openings projected every single year through 2034. Now, RN is one type of nurse. There's lots of other types of nurses out there, but AHRSA projects a shortfall of over 500,000 RNs by 2030. So, it's like teachers, right? Society literally cannot function without them, and we are chronically short on them. So, the aging population is driving demand up. The existing nurse workforce is retiring, and nursing schools cannot graduate new RNs fast enough to keep up. And it gets way more interesting once you see these specializations because travel nurses, for instance, these are RNs who take short contracts in hospitals across the country, can easily clear 130 or even 200,000 plus a year. And oftentimes they get to take a lot of time off, too. And then specialty nurses like nurse anesthetists, also called CRNAs, are the highest paid nursing specialty in the country, averaging well over $200,000 a year. So nursing has a ton of paths inside of it. Now, here's something that I want to mention really quick. Right. In our coaching program, we actually have a lot of nurses come through, like a lot. Some of them are absolutely burnt out from the hospital grind and wanted to build something on YouTube to either supplement the nursing income or eventually replace it. And let me tell you, they crush it. And it's not just nurses. It's a lot of other healthcare professionals, too. We tend to attract a lot of nurses, a lot of IT people, and a lot of different business related people, right? But nurses have the perfect combination for YouTube, right? They have the expertise, they have the stories, they have the empathy, they have an audience that's already searching for nursing adjacent content, right? There's nurse Blake, nurse Mike, etc. There are nursing YouTubers with multiple millions of subscribers. There's also some nursing channels where you literally just teaching different nursing concepts. So, it's basically like a tutorial channel. So, if you're a nurse watching this video right now, just know this is a path that works. Now, let's talk about how to start. For registered nurses, there are two paths. Path one is a 2-year ADN or associate degree in nursing, and this is typically at a community college, and this is the fastest route to becoming an RN. Path two is a 4-year BSN, which is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Both paths require you to pass the NCL XRN exam to get licensed. BSN prepared nurses generally earn more long-term and have easier paths into specialties like CRNA. And most employers will help you pay for further education once you're in the door. All right, next one is the real estate secret. Now, there's a lot of different real estate related jobs out there, but this particular one is going to be real estate appraiser. Now, if you've ever bought a house or gotten a mortgage or refinanced, somebody had to come in and determine the value of that property, and that is the appraiser. And right now, the industry is quietly having a labor crisis that almost nobody's talking about. BIS now did a deep dive investigation into the appraisal industry, and they found that 80% of active US appraisers are over the age of 50, 80%. So, the Appraisal Institute reports the number of active appraisers in the US has declined by more than 20% since the mid2000's peak. And in 2023, the appraiser shortage actually delayed or affected 68% of US mortgage transactions. So, it's kind of like being a referee at a sporting event. Every single transaction needs one. The game cannot happen without you. But barely anyone wants to become a referee. So, the few that exist, they name their price. And the pay is real. The average appraiser salary in 2024 was $106,000. According to McKisick's annual salary survey, certified general appraisers, the ones who do commercial property, average about $130,000. Plus, most appraisers are self-employed, which means you set your own schedule and you set your own rates. And speaking of real estate appraisers, realtors, mortgage brokers, the whole real estate world is wide open right now from a personal brand standpoint. Some of my best results in my coaching program have come from realtors. Like, I've watched realtors with literally zero subscribers go from grinding for cold leads to having qualified buyers, DMing them, reaching out to them every single week just from YouTube alone. We even have one guy in the program building his personal brand in commercial real estate, and he's absolutely crushing it as well. So, let's talk about how to start. You start as an appraisal traininee and you basically want to complete the required education hours, which is typically about 75 hours. And then you find a certified or licensed appraiser to mentor you. Then you log the required mentorship hours. You move up to licensed, then certified residential, then certified general or commercial. And each level unlocks more income. And right now, in my opinion, is the best time to enter the industry because the boomer appraisers are aging out and the buyer pool is wide open. All right. Next is the six figure joystick operator, aka the crane operator. Okay, so if you ever drive past a construction site and you see one of those massive tower cranes stretching 300 ft into the sky, or if you're in a big city and you see one of those cranes on the top of a building and it's lifting steel beams like they weigh nothing, well, someone is sitting at the top of that thing operating it. And right now, according to the 2024 construction craft salary survey and other industry data, 83% of construction companies in the US are struggling to find skilled workers. And 59% of them specifically say they need crane operators. And that is the most acute shortage in any single construction trade. It's basically like a video game, right? Except the joystick controls a 50 ton load 300 ft in the air. And the skill curve is pretty steep cuz you don't want to make a mistake. And the certification process is absolutely no joke. But once you're in, the work is steady and the pay is real. Top operators are pulling in $100,000 to $160,000 a year with overtime. And tower crane operators in big cities like Manhattan, Chicago, San Francisco can easily clear 115,000 plus in base alone. And remember what I said about trade careers. Typically, if you see 50,000, they're actually making six figures. These guys are probably making a heck of a lot more than that. Now, the craziest thing is is crane operator POV content on YouTube and Tik Tok is a massive niche. the view from the top of the tower crane at sunrise. Millions of views. People are fascinated by this. So, once again, you've got the day job that pays well, plus you've got a built-in social media audience just waiting to be served. And by the way, a lot of my most successful clients on YouTube are basically people who teach other people how to do the career that they're already doing, right? It's a kind of boring, but extremely lucrative and effective way of making money online. Now, here's how to start. Step one, trade school courses in heavy equipment or crane operation. Step two, apprentichip under a certified operator. Step three, get your NCCCCO or National Commission of Certification of Crane Operators certification. This is the credential that unlocks the higher paying union jobs as well as different specialties like tower, mobile, overhead, lattis, boom, etc. And they require different add-on certifications. And each one you add stacks up to another 15 to 25% of your pay. All right. Next is the trade that Black Rockck bet $100 million on, which is the HVAC technician. So, this one is personal for me because my own brother is an HVAC tech and HVAC is basically heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, right? So, they're the person you call if your heater breaks or your air conditioner breaks. And I've watched this entire industry from inside through him for years. And I'm telling you what's happening right now in HVAC is insane. According to the ACR news and the latest BLS data, the HVAC industry is currently short 110,000 technicians in the US. And that number is projected to hit 225,000 by 2027. So 25,000 HVAC techs leave the workforce every year. And not enough people are coming back in to replace them. And in March of this year, Black Rockck, the world's largest asset manager with literally trillions of dollars in assets under management, announced a hundred million investment in the skilled trades training, specifically calling out plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians. So the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Frink, literally said that we are going to run out of the electricians and HVAC techs that we need to build out AI data centers. That is the level we're at here, right? So it's kind of like being a doctor for buildings, right? When the building gets sick, when the AC dies in July, when the heater fails in January, they have to call you. And you can charge whatever you want because the comfort of the people inside the building is non-negotiable. So the pay here, well, the median is around 59,000. But remember what I said about the trade careers, it's a heck of a lot more than that. But specialists like commercial HVAC, refrigeration, data center, etc. are easily clearing 100,000 plus. And data center HVAC techs right now, they're getting 25 to 30% wage premiums because the AI boom is so dependent on them. Right? When you have all those computers, they overheat very easily and you need HVAC techs to come in and make sure that they are cool, right? They're not overheating. Now, here's the part where I get to brag on my brother for just a second. So, my brother is an HVAC tech and he's good at what he does. And a year ago, I actually helped him start a YouTube channel just talking about HVAC and the trade careers in general. And what happened? Well, the very first video he posted on the channel blew up. Got over 800,000 views. 29 days after posting his first video on the channel, he made $214 in a single day. That's a $78,000 year run rate. So, he was making a full-time income from the channel, which is pretty nuts. Now, he started doing so well with his YouTube channel that he's looking to sell his trades business, and he wants to start a second YouTube channel now. So, he's in the process of selling his business and he wants to start a second YouTube channel very soon. But the reason he was able to start that channel is because he had that experience in the trades. So, his business started taking off. He went from being a guy with a wrench to being a guy with a wrench and a brand. And that is the playbook, right? So, here's how to start. It's going to be different in different states, by the way, especially with a lot of these different trade careers. They can be vastly different in different states, uh, different union requirements, etc. But generally speaking, there's going to be a 6 to 24month HVAC trade school program at a community college or a trade institute. You can then get your EPA section 608 certification, which is required to handle refrigerants, and then you can apprenticeship under an experienced tech for 1 to two years. After that, you can either work as an employee for an HVAC company or once you've got the skill and some capital, you can start your own service company. Now, I happen to know that there's a lot of states out there, especially since I'm very familiar with Zach's company. There's a lot of states out there where they will literally just train people and they'll hire them straight to the company and train them right away. So, you don't have to go to trade school or anything like that. But again, that is heavily dependent on where you live, the union status, etc., etc. And that brings us to the career that multiplies every other career on this list. And I've mentioned it several times, but that is basically starting your own oneperson business in such a way where it's actually incredibly easy to do it on the side. And that is starting a YouTube channel or becoming a content creator. This is the career that multiplies just about every single other career on this list. So, you might have noticed that a lot of the careers on this list are actually careers where you have massive shortages. And I mentioned, for instance, clients that I've worked with like Nicole and Josh. So, Nicole, for instance, helps people get into a very specific type of cyber security career called GRC or governance, risk, and compliance. And this is one of those cyber security careers where there's a massive shortage of people and you can get paid really good money. And I have a bunch of clients like Nicole in many many different careers and subsp specialties and subcareers etc. And they get paid really good money way more than they could ever make in the career literally just helping other people get into the career. So for instance I got another client who helps people become financial controllers which is a very high level accounting career. My brother helps people get into the trades. My client Seth helps people get into digital marketing. I have one anonymous client who doesn't want to be named but she basically helps people get into data analytics etc etc etc. It just goes on and on. And basically, you're providing a ton of value because you're first of all making people aware that there's a lot of opportunity in these different careers. But then second, you're actually helping them to land the job. So, it's pretty freaking epic. And by the way, you don't even have to be a master of the career. You can be someone who's even just trying to land a job and you can just document your journey of landing the job. For instance, when Josh first started, he did not have his dream career yet. He was just sharing what he learned and basically just being helpful. And he built his personal brand on YouTube. And that helped him to land his dream job because he became an authority in his niche and they were actually reaching out to him. And we're talking Fortune50 companies like fang companies, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, etc. were reaching out to him when typically people have to apply to those companies and they're harder to get into than Harvard or Yale. But those companies were reaching out to him trying to get him in the company because of his personal brand. Right? So that is the power of starting a YouTube channel and just making useful content. Even if you're not a master at the thing yet, you just make useful content for the younger version of yourself. And chances are a lot of other people will find that useful. Now, if you want to learn exactly how to do that, I do have a live training this week where I'll be going over a bunch of different examples. And it's not just careers, by the way. It's all kinds of different subjects. Any type of subject where you're helping other people solve problems. That's the type of YouTube channel that I help people start. So, check that out by clicking the link in the description and the pin comment below. Additionally, if you are very serious about growing and making money on YouTube, I do have a one-on-one YouTube program. And I also have a done for you basically agency where we just do all the work for you. But if that sounds interesting to you and you are very serious about growing and making money on YouTube, it is a large cost likely in the 5 figure range, but you can book a call to apply to that by clicking the second link in the description and the pin comment below. And we are currently accepting about 3 to five people. With that being said, check out this video right here where I talk about exactly how I was able to help my brother make a full-time income in one month after posting his first YouTube video.