One of the few shining sectors in our flagging economy is the health care industry. While unemployment rates still seem to be on the rise, statistics show that currently employed individuals working in a wide range of health care related jobs are enjoying some of the lowest layoffs and job losses in the overall marketplace.

As we’ll discuss later, the overhaul of this country’s health care systems are sure to increase demand for well trained new prospects. This will create classic supply and demand options that will favor those able to feed the supply of trained individuals.

 photo credit: Okinawa Soba

Perhaps you’ve been thinking that you’re ready for a career change? Or maybe a layoff or firing has afforded you the luxury of seeking something new, different and exciting in the world of income generation? With 7 of the 20 fastest growing career sectors in health care, the U.S. Department of Labor is estimating more than 3 million new jobs will be created over the decade spanning 2006 to 2016.

Medical training facilities, community and career colleges are reporting increases in enrollment and degree/certification completion dating back as much as 2 years ago. General consensus among administration is that the numbers will increase in their programs even as the general economy recedes further.

Choosing sooner is always better, but when is it too late to decide on a healthcare related career? Many a smart high school instructor and even smarter students are beginning to hone in on the long term prospects of pursuing careers in the health care industry. We are seeing increased numbers of student organizations around the country that focus on preparing youngsters to make a choice to pursue further education or training that will land them work and even life long careers as some type of medical professional.

Granted it may be wiser to make the choice at a younger age, not all of us have that luxury! Still, is it ever really too late to change course and opt for a rewarding and secure career in healthcare? Likely not.

There are more career college opportunities today than any time in the history of education in this country. In the past stigma may have been held over the male nursing candidate, and women may have been aggressively dissuaded from pursuing M.D.’s, today’s career healthcare market place is a wide open, far more accepting environment.

What are your prospects as universal health care looms on our horizon?

One great website you may want to bookmark is CareerVoyages.gov, a site that helps track the trends in the job market. The site also accumulates fantastic resources, career news and other valuable tools one will need to make choices in the new world of job search and acquisition.

There are some who may consider universal health care as a great detractor for providing quality care for all individuals. The reality would indicate this could not be further from the truth. Increases in private practices, elderly care, clinic rotations and other areas of managed care are adding to the growing opportunities that will exist in any state of health care in this country.

Given there are more nurses today deciding to extend their retirement dates, this simply lessens the opportunity for newly graduating nurse candidates to find positions at their top prospects. What it doesn’t spell is a doom and gloom future where there are no opportunities for new nurses entering the field.

Plus, nursing is but one small sliver of the overall need which does and will exist in various medical fields. Click through to this impressive list of 97 careers in the medical field and you may be left realizing a world of new opportunities just waiting for you to master. All it takes is making the decision to get the training, and soon you’ll have a recession proof new career in the healthcare industry.