Tue, August 12, 2008

Which Careers Have Been Resistant to the Economic Downturn?

I think it’s interesting that the report, Jobfox Top 20 Most Recession-Proof Professions, assumes that we have been in a recession since November.  Technically, the official declaration that a recession exists is made by the National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee (as Barron’s writer Gene Epstein quipped in April, these guys should be in the business of helping practitioners of the Dismal Science find romance; instead, their job is to let everyone know that a recession has taken place several months after the fact).

According to the Jobfox report, high technology and accounting/finance were the safest places to be in the last eight months, with the ranking as follows:

1. Sales Representative/Business Development


2. Software Design/Development


3. Nursing


4. Accounting & Finance Executive


5. Accounting Staff


6. Networking/Systems Administration


7. Administrative Assistant


8. Business Analysis: Software Implementation


9. Business Analysis: Research


10. Finance Staff


11. Project Management


12. Testing/Quality Assurance


13. Product Management


14. Database Administration


15. Account/Customer Support


16. Technology Executive


17. Electrical Engineering


18. Sales Executive


19. Mechanical Engineering


20. Government Contracts Administration

Although the list is interesting, some of the jobs in the top twenty seem a bit counter-intuitive.  I’m not surprised to see nursing on the list, and presumably Sarbanes-Oxley and related regulations explain the boom in accounting.  Yet one might have thought that people looking for technology jobs would find their professions much more recession-sensitive than, say, teachers or plumbers.  Presumably the list leaves out a lot of professions altogether, since the data only reflect job searches that Jobfox helps facilitate.

Still, it’s heartening to know that the demand for the administration of government contracts continues unabated.