Health

This one is pretty obvious - people will always get sick. According to most researchers as we move further into the 21st century and the number of baby boomers grows, there will be an increasing need for doctors, nurses, nurse-practioners, pharmacist, dentist and others in the field of healthcare. This will in turn require a medical transcriptionist to handle patient records. In fact, according to the site FMT, there is a shortage of over 300,000 qualified Medical Transcriptionists. Unlike other fields of medicine, the training is not prohibitively expensive and earnings of $60,000 a year are not uncommon. The site FMT as an incentive enter this field guarantees that if an applicant's name and address can be verified they will quality for a loan. They also award several scholarships a year that fully pay for tuition for students as well as assist in job placement.

Education

The good news about the field of education is that it is usually a safe bet during any economy. Factors that increase the need for teachers are the fact that veteran teachers are retiring and the need for teachers with bilingual proficiency and handicap training is increasing. The bad news is that teachers are grossly underpaid. The average starting salary is approximately 30,000. This is as the requirements for becoming (and remaining) a teacher is growing more stringent.

Law Enforcement

Human nature being what it is there is constantly the need for effective, well-trained public safety personnel. This is another field that usually requires a great deal of training. Requirements vary but generally a career entails at least a basic high school education, and additional training such as an Associates or Bachelors degree is often recommended. Extensive background examinations are also required. Applicants in this field must also pass a series of exams gauging physical, moral aptitude and education skills as well as mastery of firearms and police procedures. The national median salary of a patrol officer is $47,460, according to the most recent statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Accounting

Death and Taxes as the old axiom goes. People will always have to pay taxes because it is mandatory to do so but so that we may pay for the police and firefighters to protect us, so that roads can be built and maintained and a plethora of other services that are ongoing no matter the state of the economy. A career in this field usually involves earning a bachelor's degree in accounting or taking accounting as part of a business degree. Further, the student can increase his value by earning his MBA. Accountants can generally, according to the site Payscale, expect to earn anywhere from 35,528 to 51,468 yearly.

Mortician

There is a reason that cemeteries have fences around them - people are dying to get in. (Sorry). The companion to taxes is of course death. This is an industry, though rather depressing, that will always have customers. Subfields in the death business include Coroner, Embalmer, Crematorium Technician, Casket Manufacturer, Obituary Writer, Grave Digger. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the median annual earnings for wage and salary funeral directors were $49,620 in May 2006.