With our (United States) economy in a terrible state I find myself, family, and friends asking the same question time and time again, which careers are still a good choice during these bad times?

Obviously, being a realtor as with most sales related positions are definitely on the bottom of the list. In my opinion, the health and medical fields are still as solid as they have always been. As unfortunate as it sounds, everyone is always going to suffer from illness or old age. Studying and building your career in the medical field is almost fail proof when it comes to career longevity.

Of course, medical technology will continue to advance as it has been, however, there will always be a high demand for nurses, doctors, or even medical administrative staff to run medical facilities. Another great part about the medical industry is the fact that it's extremely broad. There are literally thousands of positions in different medical fields, ranging all the way from emergency room and trauma nursing and surgeons to retirement home medical assistants.

Another strong career field is I.T. and just about any form of technology. As most people know, technology isn't going anywhere. The only fallback about choosing the field for your career is the fact that you need to stay on your toes and progressively study. Technology is volatile, it's always advancing. It's very similar to the medical field because of this necessary continual study pattern. Usually you need to attend classes once or twice a year to keep your certifications and licenses.

There are plenty of other career fields that are still very stable; the two I have mentioned above are just the most obvious. Do some research and find out what jobs are high demand in your immediate area. If you're not adverse to re-locating you may even want to do a country wide search to figure out exactly what is the hottest field.