Article: The jobs that will be safe despite economic downturn

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From the Courier Mail click here!

The jobs that will be safe despite economic downturn

The jobs that will be safe despite economic downturn
Article from: The Courier-Mail

James McCullough

January 13, 2009 11:00pm

IF YOU drive a train, sell lipstick or cart garbage, your job should be reasonably safe in what is expected to be a very tough 2009.
But if you are a real estate agent, sell tyres, build boats or work in a bank or the domestic airline industry, you may well be looking for another vocation this year.

Recent statistics show job advertisements have slumped to "recession-like" levels with worse expected to come tomorrow when the official labour force data for December is due to be released.

Amid the gloom, business information analysts IBISWorld predicted yesterday there would be a number of professions that would weather the downturn well this year.

IBISWorld general manager Robert Bryant said biotechnology and online information services sectors would be among the "Top 10" safe haven jobs for 2009.

He said passenger rail staff and workers in the health and blood-bank sectors along with online shopping workers would also be relatively safe this year.

Mr Bryant said that history has shown that, as the economy slowed and consumers tightened their belts, consumers, especially women, continued to spend but moved from buying more expensive fashion items to cheaper alternatives which still delivered the "feel good factor".

"This means reduced spending on clothes, shoes and handbags, in favour of lipsticks, skin creams, perfumes and other beauty products," he said.

Mr Bryant said that as the biotechnology and online industries continued to grow, they would employ more staff.

Online shopping had shown strong growth among the 25 to 44-year-old market and this would create employment opportunities across the sector, from developers to technical support, supply chain staff and marketing.

He said the country's grain and livestock farming sectors would grow strongly in 2009 as a result of increased grain production and rail was also undergoing something of a renaissance in Australia, with Queensland, NSW and Victoria all extending their networks.

Turning to the losers, Mr Bryant said banking was clearly top of the list.

"The outlook for the tyre manufacturing industry is also grim since the sector relies on the local car industry which is struggling to maintain market share against imported brands," he said.

Airline staff would face a difficult year as consumers reduced spending, while there had already been steady job losses in the nautical sector as fewer boats were built.

He said real estate agents, who had enjoyed halcyon times over the past few years, would also suffer as a result of reduced property sales.

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