Medical assistants are a widely employed type of medical support personnel who perform light administrative and clinical duties in a variety of medical settings.

The median annual salary for medical assistants as of May 2007 was $27,430, though numbers vary depending on experience, skill level and location.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2007, the states with the highest average salaries for medical assistants are:

Thanks to a larger aging population, advances in technology and a focus on preventative care, health care is the most rapidly expanding industry in the US. Here is a projection of the fastest-growing health care jobs between 2006 and 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here is a breakdown of the employment numbers for some of the top health care jobs in the US.

The table includes the number of employees working in the US for each health care occupation, as well as the percentage of the US health care workforce those employees made up. Figures are current as of 2007.

Medical assistants are employed in a wide variety of settings. Most are employed by hospitals, doctors' offices and specialty practices (such as chiropractic offices, podietrists' clinics and pediatricians' offices), where they perform a host of administrative and clinical duties. Click to see what medical assistants do.