Who Is Hiring?

Layoffs lead the news -- so is anyone still looking to hire?

Despite a the huge number of job cuts throughout the country last month, some industries continue to hire. Friday's unemployment report showed sharply rising unemployment in most sectors of the economy and the largest jump in 30 years. But industries like healthcare services managed to buck the trend and added jobs.

Alan Gin, Professor of Economics at the University of San Diego said a few local industries are still hiring workers. "Architects, engineers and people in research and development are still being hired," he said. He also said there was growth in the healthcare jobs and in hospitality although he said hiring in that sector had slowed dramatically.

On Friday the government reported that unemployment in the country jumped to 6.7 percent as over a half-million workers lost their jobs in November.

We've got an aging population both here in San Diego and nationwide. And so healthcare is going to be an important area for the foreseeable future," said Gin.

Kanani Moser of the Tristaff Group in University City says San Diego's health care companies are hiring. "They have Sharp Healthcare, UCSD, Scripps, a lot of medical device companies, Cardinal Health for instance that still have a lot of positions," she said. Moser says job seekers don't necessarily need specific experience in the medical industry as some positions only require general administrative experience, but experience working with technology helps.

Moser also says short term positions are available at call centers. "Retail for Christmas for instance Pro Flowers and Red Envelope, they have call centers here that we work with. Companies are also ramping up for tax time," said Moser.

One of the hardest hit sectors in the past year has been construction following the collapse of the residential housing market. But Gin says jobs may be coming in to town with the expected passing of a $300 to $600 billion stimulus package once President-Elect Obama takes office. "There are going to be roads, bridges, refurbishing schools, helping with energy projects. That'll help particularly in terms of construction employment," said Gin.

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