Looking Ahead: Five Industries That Are Still Creating Jobs

The current financial crisis has left millions of Americans unemployed – with the economy shedding more than half a million jobs per month and nearly 600,000 in January alone. But that doesn’t mean job seekers or people looking to make career changes are without opportunities. While most industries are suffering massive layoffs – automotive, retail, financial services, even technology and entertainment – there are a number of businesses, which continue to grow, and even prosper from the downturn. Over the next five years and beyond these industries will continue to create. Here are five of the most promising fields in terms of job creation and career opportunities looking ahead.

“Green” Businesses
In this case, “green” doesn’t only refer to environmental impact – or lack there of – of the business itself, but those companies and sectors poised to profit from the heightened attention to global warming and the movement toward so-called “sustainable” business. The production of clean energy, products and services that boost energy-efficiency and reduced waste, recycling and the like will continue to be growth industries despite the economic recession.  In fact, volatile energy prices, particularly those for fossil fuels, have accelerated the demand for green products and services even as the economy suffers, as businesses look for ways to cut energy costs. One such industry is wind energy, a field which is expected to create more than 350,000 jobs by 2020 in Europe, which has a head start on the US in adoption, and has already employed 154,000 new workers in countries such as Denmark, Germany and Spain since 2007.
Domestically President Obama has made it a goal and priority of his administration to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years into the creation of 5 million new “green” jobs. Thus it’s a safe bet that this trend will continue in the US in the coming years, creating lots of employment opportunities. While the President’s plans include special training programs to prepare workers, those with degrees in fields such as engineering, technology, business, agriculture and environmental protection will likely be in the best positions to take advantage of these opportunities.
Healthcare
As baby-boomers continue to age in coming years, the healthcare field is only going to continue to grow and will require more workers to meet the country’s burgeoning needs. Healthcare and social assistance – including public and private hospitals, nursing and residential care factilities, and individual and family services – will grow by more than 25 percent, adding 4 million new jobs between 2006 and 2016, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Once again, the changing face of national politics makes it more likely that this sector will enjoy growth and create new jobs; one of President Obama’s campaign promises was to reform the healthcare system and provide insurance to the more than 45 million uninsured, which will no-doubt swell by millions as unemployment continues to rise.
With more American covered, the likelihood that individuals will actual seek medical services should rise, increasing the demand for nurse practitioners, registered nurses and physician’s assistants, jobs which can be good landing spots for workers who are looking to change fields. Part of President Obama’s plan is also to make the provision of healthcare more efficient through greater computerization of patient records and other tasks. This could mean increased job opportunities across a range of disciplines for those with medical and technological education and experience.
Education
The education field is one job market that is said to be recession proof, as more adults go back to school seeking to bolster their credentials in a worsening job market, along with children and teenagers who need continue to need teachers. It’s been projected that at least 30,000 jobs will be created in the education field in 2009 alone with the trend continuing in subsequent years. Public and private educational services will grow by nearly 11 percent in the decade spanning 2006 to 2016, creating 1.4 million jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections.
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Computing and Engineering
Jobs dealing with computers and data analysis are continuing to boom. Job growth in this sector could be more than 20% in coming years, especially in the fields of software engineering, network administration and data analysis. In the broader category of professional, scientific and technical services, 2.1 million jobs will be created between 2006 and 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Interestingly, the many of these positions will be with small businesses, which often look to fill multiple roles with a single employee. This could benefits older and more experienced workers – and potentially career changers with expertise in different fields – rather than recent graduates. It could make candidates with expertise and education in business and other related fields more attractive to would-be small business employers.
Financial Services
It may seem counter-intuitive given the current economic climate and ongoing meltdown on Wall Street, but financial services are among the industries creating jobs. The number of job listings in this field actually rose by more than 29% this past December, according to LinkUp.com, which aggregates and publishes job listings pulled directly from company web sites (12,364 company sites in December). While many big money-center banks are hemorrhaging jobs and seeking government bail-outs, other financial services – not surprisingly credit counseling and debt remediation among them – are poised to grow as the fallout from the global financial crisis takes years to blow over. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that credit intermediation and related services, including banking, will add almost one third of all new jobs within the finance and insurance industries. This creates opportunities for both those looking to break into the field at the entry-level and for industry veterans with varied business experience seeking to change careers, recruitment experts say.