Bookkeeper, financial analyst among top in-demand jobs

Bookkeepers and financial analysts are among the U.S.’s top 15 most in-demand jobs for 2025.

Staffing agency Randstad analyzed 40 million job postings over a one-year period to identify the sectors with the most demand, which, due to the staffing shortage and a talent-scarce market, includes the accounting profession.

“It’s really about data-driven decision makers,” said Jill Eubank, division president of Professional Talent Solutions at Randstad USA. “You think about companies really having to analyze data in order to make forecasting decisions or to be able to make decisions for investment, so that’s why we’re seeing financial analysts as one of the top roles. And then if you look at smaller organizations, bookkeepers are the ones that are taking that data and trying to say, ‘Here’s what money you have, here’s what you can buy.'”

Bookkeepers earn a decent salary without needing a great deal of training. Those who are paid on an hourly basis make an average of $21.29 per hour, while average annual wages are around $44,000, according to Randstad. BLS data shows that high-paying bookkeeper jobs might make as much as $63,9000 per year.

Meanwhile, in metropolitan areas, financial analysts earn anywhere between $83,000 to $110,000 per year. But Randstad projects a surge in demand by 2032 and estimates competitive annual salaries from $87,000 to $105,000.

Eubank said that talent is looking for employers who are willing to upskill employees and “create continuous learning and development opportunities within their organization.”

“Opportunity for advancement is important to some employees, but building skills is important to all employees,” she added. 

Artificial intelligence, which is already demonstrating potential use cases, including as a productivity tool and bookkeeping automation, is also a factor when considering the demand for these jobs.

“I think there’s going to be an impact with AI around automation,” said Eubank. “But anything that’s going to require adding value or that human component, we’re still going to need people to be there. … It could be that AI might automate the AP process, but then there’s got to be somebody that’s going to look at that data and quality check the data to make sure it’s correct.”