What are growth areas in the current economy?

I think (based solely on personal experience and not thorough market research), that biotechnology and pharmaceuticals continue to have significant growth potential. This is from a government website (so, use your own judgment on its credibility), but the statistics suggest that there is still growth potential in biotech. Speaking for myself, I have strongly considered a career in biotechnology, but, I have a skill set that is well-suited for biotech work and there are many biotechnology companies in Northern California.

Solar energy technology despite the government not because of it.

We also entertain each other. The games sector is still growing, although the growth has slowed.

Semiconductors are still growing.

The bright spots are few.

Don’t we still need grocery stores? Won’t people still need clothes? all be it discount clothes. The basics of food and shelter. And with mortgages failing, I presume people will move to rentals of some kind. Not everyone will be on the streets (I hope this is not famous last words).

retail is contracting and there is much overcapacity….there must be industries that benifit from downturns…..

Shilio thank you, but given my qualifications and skill set, I’d need reincarnation to go into biotech….thx

Funerary and mortician services are always needed.

@AG. I misunderstood your question since I transferred my thoughts on your previous quips on economics to the thought “where can I invest for growth in these times.” I see now from your tags that you mean for a job. While having a background in science would help get a job in biotech, growth in that general area means that they still need all sorts of people (management, HR, marketing, public relations, etc.) that don’t have PhD’s in biology. So, depending on your background, you could still find a biotech job without needing help from Buddha.

You took my two away from the jump Allen! Health care (home health workers, nurses, nurses aides, etc.) is a growing sector, as are other service industries. I wonder if maybe environmental engineering firms are growing as more and more companies push to be greener.

In Canada there’s a government statistics/census department called Statscan – they frequently issue raw data and reports on industry trends in various dimensions such as revenue, human resource requirements, etc. I imagine the US has a similar resource that should be able to help…?

@Artificial, now that you mention it, the US does have a publication called The Occupational Outlook Handbook that provides all kinds of information about all kinds of job and employment trends.

Locally sold agriculture is a great racket to be in, have you seen the price of food? Sure local farmers are hurting from fuel prices, but global corporations have raised the value of their product so much that they make a killing! We need food more than we need Doctors or Garbage Men, so maybe go into the farming business if you want a career change.

“th’ price o’ grub”, priceless.

although it is kinda the wrong time of the year… here at least