The commission today released its Lehigh Valley Employment Forecast...2040. The report reflects the LVPC's 2010-'40 employment and occupational forecasts of employment in 23 industries.

While the majority of industries in the Lehigh Valley are expected to see gains in employment, and overall employment is expected to grow by 37.7 percent, health care and social assistance is projected to gain the most jobs.

Of the 131,410 jobs the Lehigh Valley is expected to add during this time period, 38,817 of them are expected to be in those fields.

This increased demand for health care will come from a larger and older regional population.

Other growth areas include:

• Professional and business services, 14,834 jobs;

• Construction, 13,866 job

• State and local government, 12,853 jobs

• Administrative services, 10,336 jobs

The rate of employment growth in the Lehigh Valley is expected to outpace the rate of employment growth nationally, which is predicted to be 34.7 percent during the same period.

The commission said this suggests that the Lehigh Valley will remain an economically competitive region due to a variety of factors ranging from proximity to major markets, robust population growth, a growing labor force, and lower costs of production and labor in comparison to other markets.

The LVPC used an econometric model to forecast future employment for both Lehigh and Northampton counties. The model is derived from regional and national economic and demographic information from 1990-2010 and is calibrated to the updated LVPC population forecasts, released by the LVPC in July 2012.