3 Industries With Strong Job Growth

Updated on August 18, 2008.

IT WAS ONLY a matter of time before the turmoil hitting the credit markets and housing industry started to take its toll on hiring.

More than 500,000 workers were handed pink slips through July 2008, according to a survey by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Among the hardest hit industries, the financial and automotive sectors shed more than 100,000 and more than 63,000 jobs, respectively. New York was hit the hardest losing a total of 84,782 positions year to date.

The unemployment rate sits at 5.7% as of July 2008 (back in 2003, it hit an annual average of 6%), but many industries, including health care and technology, are still hiring, according to Monster.com's (MNST) March employment survey. Regionally, the top growth markets according to online classified ads, include Pittsburgh, followed by Houston and Dallas.

If you've recently been laid off or are simply looking for greener pastures, here are some industries (beyond health care and technology) that are looking for workers.

The growing adoption of new alternative energies, such as wind and solar power, is also propelling job growth, says Challenger. While the bulk of the opportunities are in manufacturing, companies will also need to fill management and back-office functions as well, especially as demand for solar panels and wind turbines increases.

Fortunately, if you work in sales, you can usually transfer your job skills from one industry to another fairly easily. If you're good at developing relationships and selling one product, you'll likely succeed at selling another. So if you've lost your job as, say, a mortgage broker, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to land a position pushing software or health-care services. (See our sidebar for tips on transferring job skills from one industry to another).