With a recession looming, layoffs are in full effect. Here are some of the safest and most at-risk jobs, according to economists.
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- US employees are worried about their jobs amid a looming recession.
- While a truly recession-proof job is elusive, some industries are safer than others.
- Insider spoke to economists to identify some of the safest jobs, and the ones most at risk.
A recession is most likely on the cards for the majority of the world, according to a December report from the investment management company BlackRock.
James Morton, chief investment officer at Santa Lucia Asset Management, recently said that Americans should brace themselves for a near-certain recession this year, despite recent optimism from the Biden administration.
The grim economic rhetoric has caused employee concerns about layoffs to skyrocket, Lauren Thomas, a UK-based economist for Glassdoor told Insider.
She said that on the company review website, "October mentions of layoffs doubled, discussion of inflation tripled, and talk of recession increased nearly tenfold from last October."
Workers have been wary about how an economic downturn may affect their employment opportunities for some time. This summer, almost 80% of US workers surveyed by Insight Global said they were worried about losing their employment if the country entered another recession.
While a truly recession-proof job is elusive, some industries are typically safer than others. Insider spoke to labor experts and economists to identify some of the safest and most-at-risk jobs.
Most at-risk jobs
Tech jobs
Courtesy of ShelterTech
After a pandemic-inspired hiring boom, layoffs have been spreading across the tech sector in recent months, with major job cuts hitting tech giants such as Meta, Twitter, and Amazon.
Tech companies are suffering an early economic hit sparked, in part, by a slowdown in online ad spending.
However, Glassdoor's Thomas says those in tech with highly specialized skills are still largely in demand across the board, and will likely be rehired quickly if they are laid off.
Construction
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Construction, which relies heavily on borrowed funds, tends to get hit hard early on during a recession, experts told Insider.
Construction-sector jobs are not only vulnerable because of their reliance on debt, but also because they are often less flexible than other businesses when it comes to scaling back operations, Brian Greenberg, CEO and founder of insurance company Insurist, told Insider.
"For example, if you're a construction worker whose company lays off half its workforce during a recession, you may be able to find work elsewhere, even if your employer doesn't come back. But if you're an architect who specializes in designing buildings for new developments, there's likely nowhere else for you to go when your firm lays off staff," Greenberg said.
E-commerce and social media
Experts are already starting to see a drop in demand for some digital-facing roles post-pandemic.
"Pandemic-induced demand for certain technologies like e-commerce or social media has fallen in the past year," Glassdoor's Thomas said, as e-commerce and social-media jobs are affected by a change in consumer demand following the COVID-19 pandemic that forced much of marketing and shopping online.
She said that "while the fundamentals of the industry are strong," companies that are still adjusting to the new post-pandemic normal may see a slight downturn in the short term.
The most recession-proof jobs
Healthcare
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Professionals who have the most job security in a recession include doctors, physicians, and nurses but also, for example, pharmacists, physiotherapists, or carers for the elderly and disabled, Bartosz Sawicki told Insider.
Sawicki, a market analyst at currency fintech Conotoxia and macroeconomic forecaster, said the same was true for veterinarians, "as we care more and more for our dogs, cats, and other pets as our civilization develops."
LinkedIn senior economist Kory Kantenga also found that healthcare is a field that will likely be least exposed to business cycle fluctuations.
Teaching
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Teaching is an in-demand profession and teachers rarely work remotely, making them harder to recruit, Thomas said.
"The growing number of university graduates is likely to increase even further, which translates into a demand for lecturers, especially in the fields of technology, ICT, medicine, or law," Sawicki said.
Public safety and social services
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Public safety and social services jobs "tend to remain stable and sometimes even grow during recessions as governments spend more on programs like job seeker-training to stabilize downturns," LinkedIn's Kantenga said.
These roles include governmental positions, law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, correctional officers, security guards, and occupational health and safety specialists.
"Withdrawing government, educational, and health and social services in a recession is generally unpopular," he added.
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