Sunday, January 24, 2010

Well, It Wasn’t a Bad Year for Everyone

Interesting break down of the major private industries and their change in sales over 2009.

"The last year will be remembered as a bad one for business. Losses, layoffs, pay cuts, furloughs, closings — the numbers and the news were largely negative. And yet, over all, some industries managed to avoid the negative vibrations. A sampling of sales figures in major industry categories makes this clear."


Despite the hardships for most industries, the health care and educational systems sales are increased.

5 comments:

craisdegy said...

With a lack of job openings and increased layoffs, it makes sense as to why education sales would increase. A possible reason would be to make yourself more marketable and valuable to employers, especially in bad economic times. Receiving more education almost seems like the only alternative.
As to why health care sales would increase, there could be numerous reasons.

Mishaal said...

It has been a drastic year for the economy and yet there are quite a few industries that have survived. Health care and education are industries that will continue to grow because the economy ca not function without the two.

Becca Kaplan said...

It makes sense that health care would increase due to the inelastic nature of the industry. People are much less likely to stop receiving health care due to a loss in income than they are to stop buying new clothes. Furthermore, as the baby boomer generation continues to age they will continue to need more health care. This is due to increased health complications that come with aging. This is an industry that is likely to continue to grown in the future.

A.Haggerty said...

The success of the Health care and educational industries make sense. People will always need health care, buying houses and retail products usually take a back seat to ones personal well-being. In the case of the educational industry, people are always trying to make themselves more marketable. Improved skills make a employee less dispensable to a company.

Timothy Goodman said...

The year 2009 will be remembered for staggering losses, pay cuts, and bailouts. Yet, despite a troubling year for the economy several industries have managed to stand tall and weather the storm. Recession-proof industries include health care, education, energy, the federal government, and the United States military have all survived. The demand for health care services continue to rise as the baby boom generation ages and simply put people will always get sick (inelastic industry). Now education has seen a heavy influx of adult students who have been squeezed from the labor force and returned to school. It should be noted that increased educational services are critical to relieving the recession in the United States. Human capital and innovation shall hopefully lead our country to new heights in the future. What’s bad for some is a gift for others. As some industries shrink others will greatly expand. Rational people flow from declining industries to expanding industries always seeking to maximize self interests.