Biomedical and environmental engineers will experience the strongest job growth among the engineering professions over the next decade. Meanwhile, the number of nuclear and aerospace engineers will decrease, according to projections by the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

BLS forecasts that by 2024 the number of biomedical engineering jobs will increase 23% from 22,100 to 27,200. Available environmental engineering positions are expected to increase by 12% from 55,100 to 61,900. Nuclear engineering jobs are forecast to decline 4% from 16,800 to 16,100. And aerospace engineering jobs are forecast to decrease 2% from 72,500 to 70,900.

Nuclear and aerospace engineering jobs are forecast to fall over the next decade. Image credit: Morguefile.comCivil engineering is forecast to experience the highest job-growth rate over the next decade with numbers expected to increase by 8% to 305,000. Mechanical engineering positions are forecast to grow by 5% to 292,100. Little change is expected in the number of industrial engineering jobs (up 1% to 243,200) or electrical and electronics engineering positions (remaining essentially flat at 315,900).

Despite the drop in oil prices over the past 18 months, the outlook for petroleum engineering jobs remains strong, with BLS forecasting 10% growth over the next decade.