The lure of remote work is obvious. You can save on the costs of a formal work wardrobe, lunches out and commuting.
Until now, you might have been limited in your choice of jobs. That's changing. Some fields had an increase of more than 50% in remote jobs in the past year, according to FlexJobs.
More than 4 million employees — slightly more than 3% of the U.S. workforce — work from home at least half the time, according to Global Workplace Analytics, a telecommuting research site.
Certain careers offer more remote jobs than others. FlexJobs found that seven fields had high rates — more than 50% — of remote career opportunities over the last year.
Some of these are somewhat surprising, since they aren't typically associated with remote work.
A "remote job" is defined as professional-level employment that allows the worker to do the job from home either entirely or part of the time. These types of gigs include telecommuting jobs, virtual jobs, at-home jobs and other similar names.
Here are some categories that have seen high remote-job growth in 2018:
1. Math and economics
Sample job titles include actuarial analyst, economics faculty member, mathematical programmer, data scientist and high school math teacher.
Sample job listing: Senior business data analyst.
The average salary for a senior business intelligence analyst tops out, according to Payscale, at $117,714.
2. Insurance
Sample job titles include loss control specialist, nurse case manager, premium auditor, underwriting manager and claims representative.
Sample job listing: Clinical consultant
The average clinical consultant salary ranges from $58,412 to $106,510, according to Payscale.
3. Nonprofit and philanthropy
Sample job titles include senior national fundraising director, program director, policy manager, major gifts officer and partnerships manager.
Sample job listing: Senior national fundraising director
The average salary for a senior fundraising director is, according to Glassdoor, $116,171.
4. Mortgage and real estate
Sample job titles include senior loan officer, director of sales, district manager, real estate content producer and real estate valuation manager.
Sample job listing: Mortgage processor
The average mortgage processor salary ranges from $33,000 to $55,000, according to Payscale.
5. Marketing
Sample job titles include associate product manager, marketing specialist, marketing operations manager, online campaign manager and digital marketing analyst.
Sample job listing: Marketing manager
The average marketing manager salary, according to Payscale, is $63,466.
6. Engineering
Sample job titles include solutions engineer, software engineer, automation expert, design/field engineering technician and head of front-end engineering.
Sample job listing: Senior engineer-project manager
The average senior project manager engineering salary, according to Payscale, ranges from $83,000 to $152,000.
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7. Project management
Sample job titles include business process consultant, engagement manager, project manager, scrum master and project management manager.
Sample job listing: Director of client development
The average salary for a director of client development, according to Payscale, ranges from $61,000 to $220,000.
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Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns.
