I can only imagine the scene when some of my artist friends raised the subject of majoring in fine arts with their parents. I can envision a collectively raised parental eyebrow. My own father refused to lend me money for college when I said I wanted to be a teacher. “How will you ever pay me back?” I can imagine he would have had little kind to say about a career without a bi-weekly paycheck and a 401k.

A recent article proclaimed, “A new National Endowment for the Arts analysis projects a healthy rate of growth in arts jobs through the year 2018.” Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the NEA projects a growth rate of 11 percent for arts-related occupations over the next seven years. That’s a higher than the projected increase of 10 percent for the overall labor force!

Of course, if you’re a biomedical engineer, the 72 percent projected increase in that job field leaves our poor artists in the dust. But there are a number of arts-related fields that are anticipated to see impressive growth: museum technicians and conservators (26 percent); curators (23 percent); landscape architects (20 percent); interior designers (19 percent); architects (16 percent); writers and authors (14 percent); graphic designers and actors (13 percent); art directors, photographers, and film and video editors (12 percent).

So what’s going on with the interior design field? “Employment of interior designers is expected to grow faster than average, primarily due to the health care industry,” the report states. “With a rapidly aging U.S. population, there is growing demand for health care facilities, and interior designers will be needed to ensure pleasant surroundings for patients.”

Not quite as optimistic, the jobs for painters, sculptors and illustrators are expected to grow at only a 9 percent rate, and jobs for fashion designers will grow an anemic 1 percent. My daughter-in-law (the recent Mt. Mary fashion design major) will not be happy to hear this.

Oh, and hey Dad, careers in education are expected to increase almost 16 percent…contrasted with only a 12 percent increase in management-related jobs. And I couldn’t even find non-profit jobs in the report!