What job categories are the most nearly recession-proof?

[BrainGlutton]

That is, in what job categories are you most likely to get through a prolonged economic recession without ever getting fired or laid off? Or without difficulty in finding new employment in the event you need (for other reasons in your life) to relocate or something?

[dracoi]

Each recession impacts certain kinds of jobs more than others. The type of job that survives one recession might be wiped out by the next.

In the current recession, the construction and financial/banking fields have been hardest hit. Women have lost fewer jobs than men (though this is more about industry than gender). Health care and accounting have both been good industries this time around.

[Thalion]

Until this recession, I always thought my job (law enforcement) was pretty recession-proof. There's always crime, and it rises in tough economic times. So, there should always be lot of work for cops.

Unfortunately, government jobs are hit along with everyone else. So even though we may need more cops on the street, those jobs get cut, too. My department lost 20% of patrol jobs over the last few years.

[Enola Straight]

Bartenders.

In Tough Times people seek solace at the bottom of a bottle.


Movie house workers.

People want some Fantasy to make them forget their own lives for a while.




Is it any wonder that, during the time of Prohibition and The Great Depression, speakeasies flourished and movie stars reigned during the Golden Age of cinema?

[suranyi]

Originally Posted by Thalion

Until this recession, I always thought my job (law enforcement) was pretty recession-proof. There's always crime, and it rises in tough economic times. So, there should always be lot of work for cops.

Unfortunately, government jobs are hit along with everyone else. So even though we may need more cops on the street, those jobs get cut, too. My department lost 20% of patrol jobs over the last few years.

Similarly, it was famously true that a good job during the Great Depression was as a teacher. They were paid relatively well and pretty secure. Nowadays teachers are being laid off all over.

So every recession is different.

[janeslogin]

Bankruptcy lawyer?

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by BrainGlutton

That is, in what job categories are you most likely to get through a prolonged economic recession without ever getting fired or laid off? Or without difficulty in finding new employment in the event you need (for other reasons in your life) to relocate or something?

As for Job Categories - Elected and Appointed Government Officials. They never suffer a reduction in workforce.

However, an individual holding one of these positions may indeed lose their job, and be unable to get a similar job in the future.

[mnemosyne]

Pharmaceutical sciences (drug manufacturing/analytical chemistry much more so than R&D); people will always get sick and need drugs, and the industry has strong presences in many major cities and countries worldwide, so hits in one place don't always affect other areas. It's no guarantee, but it's still a pretty stable industry overall, at least in my experience.

[BrotherCadfael]

Undertaker. People are just dying to hire him...

[GreasyJack]

Originally Posted by suranyi

Similarly, it was famously true that a good job during the Great Depression was as a teacher. They were paid relatively well and pretty secure.

Even though they didn't lay them off, they often quit paying them or paid them in scrip. I'm sure that if school districts could get away with that these days, there'd be fewer layoffs.

[zoid]

Originally Posted by Enola Straight

Bartenders.

In Tough Times people seek solace at the bottom of a bottle.

I was a bartender for years and I always saod when times are good people drink, when times are bad they drink even more.

[Chefguy]

I have two sons in the IT/communications fields and one in the DIY box store business. All have been employed throughout this mess.

[Yllaria]

Well, my Dad made his career choice on the theory that Sewage Treatment Plant Operators* had recession-proof jobs. He figured that if anyone was still eating, they'd have to flush.

* Yes, I know that the current preference is to say Wastewater. He was in sewage before it was trendy.

[Wesley Clark]

repo man and debt collectors.

[drewtwo99]

I agree with bartenders. When times are bad, people are there to drink to forget their troubles. When times are good, you'll still have a job, because people will be there to celebrate!

[the_diego]

Barbers

[F. U. Shakespeare]

I read somewhere that insurance actuaries have very high job satisfaction, due to a combination of good pay, relatively low stress and good job security.

Part of the job security may be due to the fact that qualifying for the job takes a lot of work and brains, limiting the number of potential competitors.

[alphaboi867]

Originally Posted by BrotherCadfael

Undertaker. People are just dying to hire him...

Yep, people keep dying recession or not and something has to be done with their corpses. Most grieving families will beg, borrow, and still to give their loved ones a "proper funeral". I'd say crematoria operators are in an even better position than funeral homes since when mourners do opt for cheap they tend to pick cremation over burial. Even when the body's donated to science somebody get's payed to cremate it after the students are done. And then there's all the prision systems & local governments that opt to cremate unclaimed bodies instead of burying them en masse in Potter's Field.

[pkbites]

Originally Posted by Thalion

Until this recession, I always thought my job (law enforcement) was pretty recession-proof. There's always crime, and it rises in tough economic times. So, there should always be lot of work for cops.

Unfortunately, government jobs are hit along with everyone else. So even though we may need more cops on the street, those jobs get cut, too. My department lost 20% of patrol jobs over the last few years.

Milwaukee County sheriffs Office laid off 48 Deps, some with as much as 10 years on the job.

I had 25 years on the job when I retired in 2007. At no time did I think something like this would happen.

[jabiru]

I'm a nurse; I don't expect to be made redundant anytime soon.

[digs]

Computer* training. I get a lot of business from people who've been laid off, OR are just worried about it. They figure, hey, here's my chance to get some new skills.

The catch is, you have to make sure you're teaching them the specific skills they need to get a new job, and do it well (otherwise, they could spend three years learning obscure intricacies of Photoshop, and not be employable).


*specifically Mac OS/Photoshop/Illustrator/Web Design

[Oakminster]

Originally Posted by janeslogin

Bankruptcy lawyer?

Not really, at least in my area. I spoke with a chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee earlier this week. He says filings are down about 20% in the last couple of years. They changed the law several years ago, making the process a lot more complicated, so lawyers charge more, and filing fees have increased. It costs about $1700 to file a chapter 7 now including attorney fees and court costs, when it was running about $750 before the law changed.

[MLS]

My daughter the bartender disagrees on job security. She's currently working 2 jobs, one at a high-end fine dining establishment and one at a neighborhood sports bar. When times are tough business at both places drops off. Except for the very rich, people just don't go out as much, and when they do they don't spend as much, and they also tend to tip less, which is a big part of the income for servers and bartenders. Sure, there are some who are laid off and drown their sorrows, but they have less to spend. You miss the "stop off after work for a few beers" crowd if they aren't working.

[raskolnik]

-people can drink more and not drink at bars. People save money drinking at home.

[Farmer Jane]

On that note...liquor store owners?

[PlainJain]

Originally Posted by Farmer Jane

On that note...liquor store owners?

Completely bulletproof.

[Cunctator]

Originally Posted by F. U. Shakespeare

I read somewhere that insurance actuaries have very high job satisfaction, due to a combination of good pay, relatively low stress and good job security.

Part of the job security may be due to the fact that qualifying for the job takes a lot of work and brains, limiting the number of potential competitors.

We're not in recession, but I have two actuarial positions vacant at the moment that I'm having trouble filling.

[bldysabba]

Originally Posted by Enola Straight

Bartenders.

In Tough Times people seek solace at the bottom of a bottle.

Originally Posted by drewtwo99

I agree with bartenders. When times are bad, people are there to drink to forget their troubles. When times are good, you'll still have a job, because people will be there to celebrate!

I agree that people will drink more, but will people have the money to go to bars and drink more? I think liquor sales may well go up, but bars will see business slow down.

[Freddy the Pig]

Originally Posted by F. U. Shakespeare

I read somewhere that insurance actuaries have very high job satisfaction, due to a combination of good pay, relatively low stress and good job security.

The insurance industry in general is relatively recession-proof. Most people continue to drive during a recession, and so still need auto insurance. Every item of property is owned by somebody who needs to insure it. With respect to commercial lines, a business may hire fewer people, but it still needs comp and liability insurance for the people it does hire, and a submission for 900 employees requires almost as much work as a submission for 1,000. Then also, with respect to claims handling, accounting, and actuarial, much of the work is time-delayed--we're still adjusting claims and setting reserves on policies that were written five (or more) years ago. So a modest revenue (premium) decline doesn't translate into instant mass layoffs like it does in many other industries.

[Raza]

I agree with Freddy the Pig. I work at a commercial insurance firm and we continue to grow (and have vacancies). While the depressed housing/construction market has limited our growth in that segment, we just shift to other segments to make up for it. And, as Mr. Pig said, claims adjusting is a very long-term need.

[sweeteviljesus]

This Thing of Ours.

[M.Constant]

Computer consulting has worked out pretty well. The theory is that when times are bad, companies don't want to commit to long term employees. When times are good, they don't have enough people to get the work done.

[lorene]

Originally Posted by jabiru

I'm a nurse; I don't expect to be made redundant anytime soon.

That's not as true as it used to be where I live, at least not for new nurses. Recent grads in the Boston area just cannot get hired, or get hired for per diem only. There are also more stringent requirements. Most hospitals around here will only hire nurses who have a BSN, so if you're laid off from one hospital and have an ADN or a nursing diploma, you might still have trouble getting hired even if you have years of experience.

[Little Cloud]

What janesloginsaid. Bankruptcy lawyers are doing a booming business.

[Darth Panda]

Utilities aren't bad. People need water and electricity either way.

[Little Cloud]

I'm a nurse too. The nursing shortage of the past few decades caused a large recruitment of foreign nurses and an increase in Americans entering the profession. Although good (i.e. hospital) jobs are tight, I think nursing home jobs are still pretty available.

[Superhal]

Adult education, particularly in subjects that are perceived to enhance a person's resume and make them more attractive to companies, such as computer skills, languages, etc.

I think this is one of the few types of industries that are actually enhanced by recessions, as people have more time and education is still viewed as a commodity.

The downside is that salaries for educators remain flat during recessions as well.

[Farmer Jane]

Another kind of attorney: The ones that specialize in certain criminal cases. Example: someone I know just got busted for a DUI, that moron.

[SanDiegoTim]

I've spent most of my working life in the convention/tradeshow business. It holds up very well as your clients (owners/managers of the events) represent every industry. One may be down, but another is up. I wouldn't call it recession proof, but a recession has to be pretty deep and long before its felt.