Whenever anyone drops the word “recession” into the mix of a conversation, blood pressures have a tendency to rise, and vicious panic thought cycles follow quickly thereafter. It’s crucial to remember, though, that there’s a lot of room to pivot from what seems to be a dead-end, bleak situation of a career into something fresh. Will there be hard work and some sleep-deprived nights? Of course. But there could be something even better waiting on the other side of all the grinding and hard work. With that being said, we’ll take a look at the jobs that are especially vulnerable to a recession. If you find yourself feeling like the walls are caving in after checking the list out, it’s not too late to put some feelers out there about a potential career pivot.
1. Hospitality and Tourism Jobs
Honestly, this one could come as a surprise to some folks. You’d think that there will always be plenty of people that are ready to hop on a plane or hit the road for a fun trip to tour a new area. However, these are pricey times, and the fact that hospitality and tourism jobs rely on discretionary income make them vulnerable to the ills of a recession.
2. Legal Assistant
Legal assistant jobs are likely already getting rocked out there. This is largely due to the fact that there is technology readily available that can allow lawyers to easily perform numerous legal assistant duties on their own.
3. Retail Jobs
The writing has long been on the wall for the retail industry, with titans like Sears and Toy R Us falling victim to the unstoppable tide of online shopping. It’s only a matter of time before more stores than not operate with an artificial intelligence/automated kind of staffing setup.
4. Accountants
During recessions, people are more likely to do their own taxes and manage their own money until the storm clouds clear — but it’s not just individuals who stop hiring accountants during difficult economic times. There is also going to be an inevitable shrinkage in demand for accountants if the businesses themselves are failing and edging toward being shut down altogether.
5. Real Estate
Finally, there’s real estate, an industry that is expected to take suffer from downturns on both the residential and commercial sides. Sales of homes and condos are expected to slump as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, while the demand for retail and office space could be affected by reduced need for commercial space with fewer customers visiting stores and employers reducing the number of workers.
