Careers: Five Jobs for Our Shores

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At times, you will be sweating as much as your clients. "I've had people who never admitted they were wrong, who never followed any dietary advice and then couldn't believe they weren't getting results," says Stephon McCann, 39, a former Kansas City, Mo., bus driver who recently sold his gym "for a lot more" than he put into it and will make $50,000 to $70,000 per year as personal-training director at a Gold's Gym in St. Petersburg, Fla. But go in with reasonable expectations. "You can't imagine how many people I've interviewed who want the $100 [per hr.] celebrity clientele right away," says McCann. "You have to be ready to work for it."

DRIVING TRADE

With the U.S. economy growing, companies like Wal-Mart shipping freight from China and a $286 billion highway bill just through Congress, trucking is here for the long haul. Industry revenues will increase 32.4%, to $888.5 billion, according to economic research firm Global Insight, and the U.S. is projected to add 574,000 truck-driving jobs over the next decade. Yet the industry has reported a shortage of 20,000 long-haul drivers. "With the image of the truck driver barreling down a highway, shouting at you, there's a stigma attached to the job," says David Terkanian, a BLS economist. "People don't care that our society would collapse without trucks."

Weekends on the road have also deterred younger drivers from entering the field. But average weekly earnings for long-distance drivers were up 5.1%, to $725, in 2004, nearly closing the wage gap with construction, an industry fueled by the housing boom. And drivers can spend those weekends chugging alongside the Rockies. How can trucking help erase that stigma? "You can't go honking at people in four-wheelers," says Earl Sylvain, 69, a former high school teacher who has spent his retirement driving trucks. "Why would you curse at them? They're the ones using the stuff we're shipping. I wish more drivers would understand that without them, we wouldn't have a job."

CARING FOR BABY BOOMERS

If you're searching for a job that will be here in 10 years, no doubt nursing is first. You can't assist with surgery and help a patient sit up from overseas, and by 2012, the U.S. will add more than 620,000 registered nurses, more than any other occupation, according to the BLS. Why? With 77 million baby boomers approaching retirement age and preventive health care growing, nurses are in demand. Technology has shortened hospital stays for many patients, but the ones left behind are the sickest and require even more attention. Median annual earnings for nurses are $48,090, and 10% of registered nurses make more than $69,670. The hours are odd, though, with lots of tempting overtime opportunities. "I've wanted to smack--figuratively smack--some other nurses," says Kay Ball, 56, a longtime surgical nurse from Lewis Center, Ohio, "and ask them, 'Would you recommend this kind of unbalanced lifestyle to one of your patients?'"

MONETARY MENTORING