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HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
In the past 15 years, the healthcare economy has produced 4.5 million new jobs, including related fields such as drug development and health insurance. A dozen of the 30 fastest-growing occupations are related to healthcare. Even last month -- as the unemployment rate took its biggest jump in 22 years -- healthcare continued to add thousands of jobs.
By 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts healthcare employment to double the projected growth of all other industries combined.
No other industry matches this rapid growth spurt. Globalization has closed factories. New technologies have shrunk retailers and agriculture operations. Few jobs have been created in the finance and insurance industry recently, with the exception of health and real estate. Then the housing bubble burst.
Despite the success of Web 2.0 companies such as Google and Facebook, the current tech economy -- telecom, software, electronics and throngs of techie start-ups -- still employs fewer Americans than at the height of the dot-com boom.
The healthcare economy is only bound to grow larger. The aging baby boomer population is about to significantly increase healthcare needs. Advances in technology are improving the survival rate of terminally ill and injured patients, who need extended therapy and care.
The healthcare economy now employs about 16.5 million Americans. In the past 3 decades, the total national spending on healthcare has more than doubled to 16 percent of the gross domestic product. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts that by 2082, rising healthcare costs will push that spending to nearly 50 percent. It is clear that healthcare comes at an expensive cost to the public and individuals. At the same time, it has brought economic benefits, including creating a second life for older manufacturing cities. Manufacturing, as a percentage of the GDP, has been cut in half in the past 30 years.
The auto industry has been steadily shrinking in greater Detroit and cutting tens of thousands of automobile manufacturing jobs in the past decade. Ford plans to slash white collar salary costs 15 percent by August of 2008, laying off an unspecified number of workers.
In 2009, the Henry Ford Health System plans to open a $350 million community hospital that will employ 1,600 new hires.
Cleveland has emerged as a prime location for medical care and research. Longtime manufacturers that once dominated the region's economy have been replaced by the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, two of the state's largest employers, and more than 500 companies providing medical goods and services.
"In this global economy, we knew we needed to stimulate a new economy in what we have skills in," said Baiju Shah, president and chief executive officer of BioEnterprise, which has helped develop the region's healthcare industry. "Healthcare is one of those shining spots for Cleveland."
Cleveland's historic manufacturing sector is shifting its production to supply the growing biomedical device companies. Before leaving the area, automotive and aerospace conglomerate TRW donated its headquarters to the Cleveland Clinic.
Akron, Ohio, the former rubber capital of the world, is working to become the leader in biomedical research and development in its biomedical corridor and has its incubator headquartered in the former Goodrich tire production facilities.
Around the country hospital systems are expanding, especially into suburbia because that's where patient volumes are growing.
Thanks to Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, more than half of Baltimore's top 10 employers are in the healthcare industry.
Healthcare dominates in cities such as Pittsburgh and Memphis.
On the West Coast, Kaiser Permanente has grown to become the leading U.S. health plan and provider, employing more than 13,000 physicians nationwide, as well as scores of caretaker, administrative, and technical employees.
"It's one of those industries that doesn't seem to be affected by economic downturn," said Terry Schau, an economist at the bureau. "People get sick, and they're going to need healthcare. The state of the economy may affect their ability to pay but not the demand."
If you want to find a more secure industry and job, the healthcare industry is one worth exploring. Some positions that will continue to be in high demand and that you might consider include:
Nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, aides, technicians, administrators, accountants, medical records managers, pharmacists, speech-language pathologists, purchasing managers, facilities managers, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, social workers, PACs Administrators, phlebotomists, ultrasonographers, physicians (hospitalists, surgeons, radiologists, oncologists, physiatrists), support staff, research scientists, engineers, inventors, medical sales representatives, and field service representatives
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