Businesses may be temporarily turning away from services such as advertising, web-design, legal services, and landscaping to rely more on in-house resources for their needs as part of their overall cost cutting strategy. Employees with these skills may have been able to hang on to their jobs over the downturn if they can add additional value to be tapped by their employers …at relatively lower costs.

Advertising and marketing services are especially at a low point in sales growth, dropping down into negative figures after posting a healthy sales growth rate of 8.90% at the onset of recession in late 2007.

The table below lists the average sales growth for 10 service-oriented industries. The data is for year end 2008 through October 2009.  

It’s been a year now since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent/concurrent fallout in real estate and consumer spending. Below is a list of the 20 industries that have been affected the greatest, for better and for worse.

• Oil drillers, food & medicine manufacturers, and trade schools were some of the best.
• Real estate, wood products and auto dealerships fared the worst.

Sageworks compiled this list of 4 favorable changes in the business world over the last year, showing the upside of the down economy for businesses.  The data is elaborated on by Sageworks CEO, Brian Hamilton, on this Fox Business segment.

The commerce department reported a 0.8% unexpected gain in construction spending for April, marking a two month consecutive increase despite predictions that spending would drop 1.2%.  

Sageworks Index data also supports a rise in construction activity, but for an additional consecutive month as the data below indicate that sales rose 4.55 % in May after rising 2.94 % in April and 1.66 % in March.

Housing starts also showed a surprising 17.2 % increase in May after a 12.9% drop in April. While housing starts provide an outlook for future construction activity, the large number of unsold homes on the market will be a limitng reactant for new growth in residential construction.

The WSJ posted a blog referring to recent lay-offs in the legal profession as the “darkest day ever for big law firms“.

The numbers below show a significant decrease in revenue growth for legal services and offices of lawyers over 2008. The industry maintained strong profit margins, and may suggest that high fixed costs such as expense accounts, salaries, and other overhead costs were reigned in over the last year prior to the increase in lay-offs.

It looks like schools providing trade and technical training are growing despite the current downturn.  Their revenues have grown at an average rate of 7.8% over the last 12 months compared to 5.9% in 2006 and 2007. 

 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Education Pays Survey), earnings increase substantially and unemployment decreases substantially with greater levels of education. It may be that people are looking to use trade and technical training to set themselves apart as candidates or even to change career paths in the current economic climate.

It may be a struggle for many small businesses to keep afloat during a downturn, but here is some hope. Sageworks has compiled a list of 5 financially healthy types of small businesses over the last 12 months. These industries may be worth while for job seekers to look into. They have all seen their top-line revenues increase by between 8% and 11% and their net profits increase by between 3% and over 30%.

This list was compiled looking at financial statements of businesses with less than $10 M in annual sales.