This has been a brutal year for the job market, with unemployment higher than we’ve seen in decades. But there are signs of recovery. Four major industries had more job listings in November than a year ago: education grew 38%, hospitality 20%, retail 17% and real estate 4%. And there are micro-segments that are growing even faster.

Here are the 10 fastest growing opportunities of 2009:

1. Twitter
2. Cloud Computing
3. iPhone
4. Facebook
5. Corporate Social Responsibility
6. Blogger
7. Pediatrician
8. Hospitalist
9. Social Media
10. Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)

The emergence of social media opportunities is striking, with Twitter being the #1 growth trend along with Facebook (#4), Blogger (#6), and Social Media (#9). Other strong technology-related trends are Cloud Computing at #2 and iPhone at #3.

This year’s episodes of financial malfeasance have boosted the demand for Corporate Social Responsibility experts (#5). Healthcare hasn’t grown as an industry recently, but fast-growing pockets include Pediatrician (#7), Hospitalist (#8), and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) (#10).

We’ll continue to report the top job trends in the New Year, so let us know if there are any you want us to track and good luck in your job search.

We’ve just released our Job Postings Per Capita index for the UK. The 15 most populous urban areas are ranked by the number of job postings for every thousand people during the month of November 2009. The map illustrates the data: the bigger the dot, the more job postings there are per capita.

Job Postings per Capita is a measure of job competition. Lower ranked areas have fewer jobs available per person and more competition for each job. Glasgow and Belfast are at the bottom, with only four job postings per thousand people.

London is the #1 job creator with 18 job postings per thousand people. With over four times as many open positions per capita as Glasgow and Belfast, it tends to be a lot easier to find a job in London.

The top five urban areas are:
London
Bristol
Liverpool
Nottingham
Sheffield

Our Job Postings per Capita index should be helpful in deciding where to look for opportunities. Try our job search and don’t forget to set up daily job alert emails!