Where There Are Jobs In a Dismal Job Market

Pink slips are coming fast and furious in financial services and retail, but that doesn’t mean other industries aren’t hanging "help wanted" signs.

From health care to information technology to government, a slew of companies is still looking to hire and offer competitive salaries. And jobs are limited to areas that require advanced degrees, employment experts say job openings run the gamut from administrative assistants to medical technicians and doctors.

There’s big growth in health care, government, energy, education and IT, said Erik Sorenson, chief executive of Vault.com.  “These jobs are available, continue to be available and are going to be increasingly available.” 

Nobody is dismissing the dismal state of the job market, with unemployment reaching a high not seen since right after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but experts say behind the numbers are some pockets of strength.

Take the health-care industry. With the aging population, demand for health care jobs is on the rise. According to Tom Musbach, managing editor of HotJobs.com, a quick search of Hot Job’s Web site found that there are over 32,000 listings for health care jobs, with nursing jobs representing almost half of the vacant jobs. Medical assistants were also a big category on HotJobs, with 4,000 help-wanted ads.

“Similar to the last recession in 2001 and 2002, health care has been recession-proof,” said Richard Castellini, chief marketing officer at CareerBuilder.com. “If you look at the demographics in the field of nursing the median age nurse is 45 years old.” He said there were 350,000 health care jobs added so far this year.

Government jobs are also an area seeing growth. According to Castellini, 250,900 state, municipal and federal jobs were added in the past year, with two-thirds on the local level. He said 40% of the government workers are eligible for retirement in the next five years and those jobs will need to be filled. “It’s from lower level positions all the way to high level management positions at government agencies and government departments,” said Castellini.

Information technology, which took a big hit during the downturn of 2001, isn’t expected to feel the pain this time around. That’s because while companies are cutting expenses, they can’t afford to rein in technology spending so much. During the first downturn there was still skepticism about the role IT played in businesses, but the importance of technology can’t be disputed today.    

Take Synaptics (SYNA), the Santa Clara, Calif., maker of a touch interface for computers and smartphones. While other technology companies are retreating, Synaptics is actually growing. Synaptics is looking to increase its 450 headcount to more than 500 in its next fiscal year.

“The reality is you can’t cut back on tech,” said Sorenson of Vault.com. There will be continued demand for network systems analysts, code writes and product manager to name a few, he said.  

The areas that are going to see continued weakness include retail, financial services and middle-management jobs, said experts. People looking for jobs in those areas may have a tough time but it’s not all doom and gloom. After all middle managers can always become teachers, which are also in demand, while retail workers may have an opportunity to rebuild America’s infrastructure if the government opts to throw money that way to create jobs.

“There’s a need to invest in bridges, roads and transportation,” said Sorenson. “Anybody in decent health can pick up a shovel, put a hard hat on and start digging.”