Who knows what the job market of tomorrow will bring? Hours cut? Reduced benefits? Layoffs? While there is never a guarantee of a job in any field, some fields are growing and expanding while others are shrinking. According to the Department of Labor, education and health services actually gained 883,000 jobs between December of 2007 and March of 2010 even as the economy as a whole eliminated more than 8.2 million positions. This level of job growth even outperformed that of the government sector, which rang up an increase of 119,000 jobs.
Health Services Sector Predicted to Grow
With advancing medical technologies plus a growing yet also aging population, health services is a field that is going to create a lot of new opportunities in the coming years and is expected to continue to grow at a rate higher than the national average for other industries.
Among the many growing fields in the health service sector is that of surgical technologist. Scrubs, as they are informally known, assist the operating room doctors in prepping patients for surgery. They test and position equipment, assist in sterilization procedures, help the doctors in any way needed during surgery and return the patients to their rooms after the procedure is finished. Surgical technologists with advanced training serve in the more important role of surgical first assistant.
In their Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tags surgical technologist as one of tomorrow