What types of jobs/industries are "recession-proof"?

[undeterred]

if any?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. At one time I would have said teaching

But teachers are being laid off in some states.

[11 Bravo]

21. If you've been there a while, you're probably safe. Otherwise it's last hired, first fired.

But having said that, teaching is just about as recession-proof an occupation as one could find today.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. And what's sad is it isn't as recession proof as it used to be.

[11 Bravo]

26. Yep. I'm in my 34th year, so I'm about as safe as I can be, but ...

I work with some immensely talented young teachers, and they're the ones whom we may lose in this current budget crisis.

[NJCher]

22. yep

New York has threatened to lay off 14,000.



Cher

[Iggo]

2. The only one I've ever heard of is Undertaker. (n/t)

[undeterred]

5. My former BIL became one.

He always had problems keeping a job, so I guess that was the right move for him. Fewer live people around to piss off.

[snot]

3. bankruptcy lawyer.

[Donnachaidh]

4. collection agencies

Seriously. The more people out of work, the more they look for bodies to get on phones.

[NOW tense]

6. Drug Dealer

:humor attempt:

still waiting for that smiley.

[babylonsister]

7. Consignment and pawn shops seem to be doing well. nt

[Aviation Pro]

8. Liquour store owner or employee.....

...probably bartender too.

[bluestateguy]

9. Maybe not "recession-proof", but some jobs are safer than others

Health care is one, as is the military. Also, I read a piece in the local paper today about the federal government being a growth industry.

That's about it.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

19. Health care business has been hit pretty hard in these times too

n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

10. Medical jobs

Mostly nurses but CNA's are in demand there as well.

Math/Science teachers.

Truck Drivers (we'll be importing cheap shit from China for some time to come.)

Child Care workers

[dgibby]

16. Actually, that's pretty much a myth.

Medical facilities cope with economic downturns in a variety of ways before it shows up statistically. They will increase the patient to staff ratio, ie, more patients assigned to fewer staff, combine nursing unis, freeze hiring, pay, bonuses, decrease paid vacation and sick days, eliminate funding for mandatory inservice education programs, eliminate overtime or establish mandatory on call, decrease funding for equipment procurement, eliminate extra pay for week-ends, holidays, etc. When that fails, they start layoffs, and that is what is happening now.

[undeterred]

20. More people unemployed means more uninsured

who will delay seeking care if possible. Less revenue for health care providers means they can't provide the same level of service.

[Le Taz Hot]

28. I'm going strictly by the want ads

in my local paper. On any give day there is probably 1/2 page of all jobs other then medical and 2 pages of medical-related jobs. I've also gone online to our local hospitals and there is page after page of openings for L.V.N's & R.N.'s. So, no, in my area, it is very much reality.

[NOW tense]

11. Garbage truck driver. n/t

[ddeclue]

12. Joining the military, defense contractor work. and medical worker jobs

seem to be the only recession proof jobs I know of:

1) The military is flooding the job boards (particularly Careerbuilder) with recruitment ads and it's hard to avoid them coming up in your searches because they have all these different specialties and they post them in every geographic region as though it were a local job but in reality they will be moving you all over the place. Careerbuilder ought to have an exclude military recruitment checkbox!

If you are going to join the military I'd recommend the Navy or Air Force if you don't want to keep getting sent back to Iraq and Afghanistan time and time again. I'd also recommend joining only as an officer if you want to make any kind of decent living.

2) I'm a degreed engineer but the only jobs available for me right now are working for defense contractors and 90% of these require a security clearance which is almost impossible to get unless you got one in the military and if you ever lose your job and your credit goes into the tank you can't get a clearance or will lose your clearance.

3) Health care workers - they haven't figured out how to outsource or in-source these jobs yet either by sending them overseas or finding a way to import foreign workers to do them on an H1B VISA - and Americans destroy their health with all sorts of life style related activities that result in chronic disease so this seems like the only "boom" market right now.

All the jobs in high tech or engineering that used to exist if they aren't being forced to remain in the USA due to security reasons as defense jobs are being outsourced to third world countries where even the engineers and scientists only make a few thousand a year. Intel is opening a huge new facility in Vietnam to design and mfg chipsets so that they can cut out paying a decent wage to American trained engineers and scientists. My American made car has an engine apparently built in Mexico. Cadillac builds transmissions in China now. Boeing has outsourced large portions of production and design for their 787 dreamliner to places all over the world in order to reduce labor costs - apparently with not so satisfactory results.

Nobody is investing in high tech ideas any more either because there is no consumer demand for them. The only significant spender on technology and R&D today is the United States Department of Defense.

Of course there have't been any decent jobs in mfg for line workers etc. for a long long time in this country because we've allowed these corporations to outsource all of our jobs to foreign countries without decent labor, environmental or safety laws for decades without boycotting their products or throwing our gov't leaders out on their asses.

Jobs in entertainment have gone down hill too because quality acting, writing, and direction on TV have all been replaced by tacky little "reality" TV shows starring idiots being idiotic for their 15 minutes of fame. Movies meanwhile are being produced in Eastern Europe or Canada to reduce production labor costs.

All that's left outside of the three areas I've mentioned above are fast food restaurants and minimum wage retail jobs and it's hard to get one of those jobs if you are over trained and over qualified for them because their management won't hire you if they think you will someday jump ship on them and think you aren't totally captive to their management structure.

Doug D.

[leftofthedial]

13. hired assassin

the aforementioned undertaker, who will be insanely busy soon

TARP bailout bank CEO--you'll be out of a job soon, but you get to take a whopping share of a trillion bucks with you

slumlord

[TXDemGal]

14. Funeral industry

I also tend to think liquor stores, but I have no hard evidence about that.

[backscatter712]

15. Repo man.

I'm also thinking bartender or liquor store clerk - times are so bad everyone's driven to drink.

[Mrs. Overall]

17. Fast food franchise?

I read that most of the fast food chains are doing well at this time as people aren't eating out at nicer restaurants.

[undeterred]

18. Fast food has become really expensive.

Its hard to get an actual meal for under $6. I think those that offer a lunch for $3 or $4 will stay in business and the others will fold.

[timtom]

23. Politician

(if ya throw in with the "right" people...)

[treestar]

25. Dollar stores, grocery stores

The basics

[phaseolus]

27. Food and beverage industry, to a certain extent

People gotta eat. Even during slowdowns, there are new products being introduced, for marketing reasons.

The industry's not known for throwing cash around in tonnage quantities, but it's usually pretty steady.

[Nikia]

29. Big companies like Kraft, Unilever, etc.have laid off food professionals recently

But if you have experience, there is usually a job for you somewhere.
Small companies, provided they stay in business, usually won't ditch key people.
That said, I am in the food processing industry and not really happy about it, but it does seem secure for now.

[bevoette]

30. TexMex restaurants, near as i can tell (nm)

[PBS Poll-435]

31. Morticians

& grave diggers.

[prole_for_peace]

32. Tax accountant

At least I hope...

There are changes to the code every year and our services will always be needed.