Job losses not affecting health care industry

Thursday, November 20, 2008

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Local hospitals are still looking to fill hundreds of jobs.

BAY AREA (Bay News 9) -- Even though the number of people out of work continues to climb, there is still one industry that is looking for new hires.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that that the health care industry added 26,000 jobs. Over the past year, employment in the field has grown by 348,000.

By contrast, one of the harder hit industries - construction - fell by 49,000 jobs in October. Over the last month, retail trade also fell by 38,000 jobs.

At Rasmussen College, located in Holiday, campus director Claire Walker said the school has seen a 38 percent increase in students signing up for classes in their School of Allied Health in the past nine months.

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"Students are really flocking to the health care industry," she said.

College student Lauren Alamo is one of those students. After she was laid off in the business marketing field, she decided to earn a medical diploma.

"I picked it because it was in high demand," she said. "The medical field is always in high demand and, like I said, it's a secure job for me."

That decision is one Don Garand made a while ago. The radiology technician at Tampa General Hospital used to work for a landscaping business, but he made the switch to the medical field for job security.

"I decided the medical field was where I wanted to be," he said. "I wanted to be able to go into something that, if it required school, I knew I would get hired in."

Tampa General is only one of the hospitals in the area that is searching for people to fill jobs. The Bayfront Medical Center online job board shows nearly 100 job openings.