The number of health care jobs on the North Shore soared to an all-time high this year, making it the fastest-growing job sector in the region.
In fact, after eight years of rapid growth, the health care industry surpassed retail — traditionally, the area's largest employer — for the first time in the first quarter of 2009.
"Jobs are dropping off everywhere except in health care, which is now the largest employer on the North Shore," said Bill Tinti, chairman of the North Shore Workforce Investment Board, which released a report this week. "Historically, that hasn't been true. Historically, it's been retail trade."
But now the region known for the Northshore and Liberty Tree malls and a collection of surrounding shopping centers — an area Tinti said has historically been the largest concentration of retail space in New England — has transformed itself into a health care hub.
Suddenly, finding a doctor has become as convenient as shopping for a new pair of designer jeans.
Northeast Health Systems (the parent company of Beverly Hospital) recently opened a new outpatient medical center in Danvers, and the Lahey Clinic just completed a major expansion in Peabody. The $144 million Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care opened earlier this year in Danvers. And Salem Hospital recently finished a $30 million renovation of its inpatient rooms and intensive care unit.
Plus, Children's Hospital Boston is planning to open an outpatient facility at Centennial Park in 2011.
Those projects mean more jobs.
"If you have those skills and that temperament, you can get jobs," said Mary Sarris, executive director of the investment board.
But not everyone in the profession is celebrating. The report was based on statistics for the first quarter of 2009 and came out before this week's layoffs at Northeast Hospital Corp.
Some 22 employees were let go at Beverly Hospital, Addison-Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, BayRidge Hospital in Lynn and Beverly Hospital's medical center in Danvers, all of which employ 2,800 people.
Those layoffs were mostly limited to directors, managers and supervisors, and did not include "frontline service providers" like nurses and pharmacists, according to a spokesman.
Still, North Shore leaders believe health care workers in this region have a bright future.
The industry has grown from about 25,000 jobs in 2001 to nearly 30,000 in the first quarter of 2009. Retail jobs, meanwhile, dipped from more than 26,000 in 2001 to just over 24,000 in 2009.
The only other job sector that has increased since 2006 is educational services, a trend Tinti attributed in part to the influx of charter schools in the region.
The sad reality, however, is that most job categories on the North Shore are shrinking, as they are nationwide. While the national unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent in October, the North Shore's rate was nearly identical to the Massachusetts average of 9.3 percent.
"The catch phrase for this recession is that its impact has been broad and across the board," Tinti said. "It hasn't been limited to a single industry, nor has it been limited to a certain class of people."
There was, however, some sign of hope in the report. The investment board expects to see a proliferation of "green jobs" in the coming years, thanks to pending environmental legislation in Washington and some new positions being added across all industries.
But those jobs of the future may not arrive fast enough for workers who need a steady paycheck now. Some 41 percent of jobless North Shore workers have been on unemployment for 15 weeks or more.
More men than women are looking for work, a reflection of the drop in male-dominated construction and manufacturing jobs, Sarris said.
Minorities have also been disproportionately affected. While African-Americans made up about 1 percent of the North Shore's population during the most recent U.S. Census, they account for about 12 percent of those using the career center to find work.
Hispanics, a group that made up about 5 percent of the region's population in 2000, accounted for about 15 percent of those looking for jobs this year.
The North Shore is also seeing a dramatic rise in the number of workers 18 and under and those 46 and over seeking work. Sarris said the lack of jobs available to young workers is particularly worrisome.
"Nationally, teen employment is a crisis situation," Sarris said. "There's nothing worse than a 21-year-old who's never worked a day in their lives."
Sarris said the career center is also seeing a "huge increase" in the number of veterans coming to them in search of work.
Overall, Sarris said, it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact face of the Great Recession.
"Our customers run the gamut," Sarris said. "We see engineers and high-school dropouts."
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salem news.com.
NOW HIRING
Companies that were actually hiring workers in 2009:
All Care VNA, Lynn
* visiting nurse association
Eastern Bank, Lynn
Shaughnessey-Kaplan Rehabilitation Hospital, Salem
HCPro, Marblehead
* information and training for health care industry
United Parcel Service
H&R Block
* tax preparers
Appleseed's, Beverly
* women's clothing, catalog distribution and retail stores
Brooksby Village, Peabody
* housing for senior citizens
Comcast
* cable television provider
CAB Health & Recovery Services, Peabody
* addiction treatment and prevention
Cardinal Health, Peabody
* products and services for the health care industry
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Northeast Security, Newton
* security services
Source: North Shore Workforce Investment Board
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