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As the job market in New Jersey and nationwide shrinks with the faltering economy, health care is one of the only industries that continues to see growth.

New Jersey lost 3,900 jobs in September - the most recent employment numbers available - while the health services industry added over 1,000 jobs over the month, according to the state Labor Department. While New Jersey lost 21,100 jobs over the first three quarters of 2008, health care and social assistance jobs grew by 10,000.

While health-related majors have always been popular with Rutgers students, career services staff have recently been seeing more non-traditional students interested in health professions.

More than 300 students are enrolled in the university's post-baccalaureate program, which is geared toward college graduates who need more science courses before they can apply to medical school or other health profession schools. The number of registered nurse jobs is expected to grow by 587,000 over the next decade, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"More and more people are looking at the health professions and now that the economy has tanked, it's bringing that number up even more," said Gregory Sobol, the health professions specialist at Rutgers Career Services.

But the capacity of nursing schools and medical schools lag behind demand throughout the country, making admission highly competitive and sending many medical students to the Caribbean to obtain their degrees.

Sobol spoke to a group of about 20 undergraduate students Friday about how to prepare for health-care-related professional school, emphasizing the importance of clinical experience, research experience and community service.

Most of the students in attendance were aspiring medical school students, but the group also included a student planning to be a physician assistant and students interested in physical therapy, dentistry and podiatry.