These tech skills are recession-proof

Back in April we discussed research that found IT job security was dropping five times faster than the national average. But there's some new research that shows a rosier view, with numerous technology skills being labeled as "recession-proof."

You’re in good shape if you’re skilled in software design and development, networking and system administration, database administration, business analysis software implementations, and software testing. Workers in these five professions were among the top 25 “most wanted U.S. job candidates” in the 120-day period ending July 7, according to an analysis by  Jobfox, a career Web site. (Slideshow: 20 most useful career sites for IT professionals)

Software design and development ranked highest among tech jobs at No. 4, while nurses and sales reps were the most in-demand professionals.

The Jobfox report doesn’t necessarily contradict previous doom-and-gloom research findings. IT and engineering services company Technisource, for example, found that IT worker confidence has plummeted overall but that highly-skilled IT workers are largely still confident in their ability to find jobs.

That’s essentially what Jobfox’s survey reveals – the best IT pros aren’t suffering, but those who haven’t kept up to date with cutting-edge technology might be having trouble. “We think that experienced IT professionals with the cutting-edge skills are the ones that are not having trouble,” says Jobfox spokesman Barry Lawrence.

Skills in Web 2.0 and mobile technology are hot, and employers are often having trouble finding qualified candidates, he says.

“Developers with things like AJAX skills, mobility skills – interfacing with mobile telephones, PDAs, are totally in high demand,” Lawrence says. Employers can easily find inexperienced workers, but it’s difficult to find those who have the right set of technology, people and project management skills, he says.

Jobfox also tracks which jobs are most sought after by candidates. The top 25 list of jobs most wanted by job seekers doesn't contain any of the five technology professions that were most in-demand from the perspective of employers, suggesting the number of candidates isn’t meeting the number of jobs. The professions with the most job seekers were accounting staff, construction, administrative assistants, and customer support.