Looming worker shortage. That’s not a phrase one expects to hear at a time of high unemployment. But when experts look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of the fastest-growing occupations, that’s what they see: more than a million new jobs on the horizon by 2018, and a worker pool that may not be trained to fill them.

Such a list was first compiled in 1946, just after the end of World War II, to help veterans on the G.I. Bill make smart educational choices. One need only pay attention to news reports to guess where the current shortages may be: eight of the fields in the top 10 categories are health care or wellness related; one is in financial services; and the other is in the information technology field.

But, points out Michael Wolf, an economist with the bureau, “The mere fact that a category is fast growing does not mean you can get a job in it.” For most of these occupations, training (sometimes years of it) is necessary.

1. BIOMEDICAL ENGINEER

Job Growth: 72 percent, or 12,000 new jobs by 2018

Salary: $82,550 mean; $103,000 for scientific and technical consultants