Unemployment may be high now but there will be a huge demand for “social sector” jobs between now and 2018, according to this study from Northeastern University in Boston.

Social sector jobs include employment in health care and social assistance, educational services, and nonprofit community and religious groups, the study said. There will be 6.9 million new jobs in this sector by 2018, the study said.

Filling them could be more difficult because the Baby Boom generation is retiring and the size of subsequent generations is smaller. “The projected labor shortage could limit the growth of the social sector, affecting critical services, including health care, social assistance, education and government,” the research report said.