Trendwatch -- hot industries for 2007

Just the other day I was listening to an broadcast report on the railroads. From what I understood (still searching corroboration for these figures) in the US, the Department of Transportation is anticipating about 5000 job openings.

Why is the railroad industry picking up? With gas prices ever higher, rail transport is becoming a more attractive option compared to trucking. "I've been working on the railroad" no longer has to mean pulling out the shovel and pickaxe. There are jobs in every sector -- from in-house lawyers, to administrators, to transport experts and engineers. And more importantly, they are looking to the 50 plus demographic to help fill positions.

The other industry worth watching is vessel transport. In 2006, ships ran almost 100% to capacity and research appears to be underway to construct even larger vessels to accomodate the PanAsian surge in import. Getting into the unions is a tough call, but there are a lot of support and management positions that are always needed to run any operation and as this sector of transport continues to expand, so will job openings.