Where will you be in 2010? With an economy on the mend and renewed optimism towards job creation, many are considering upgrading their education and job status. With the right education, you could be among the successful job seekers in 2010.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) listed its occupations with the largest number of total job openings due to growth and net replacements from 2006 through 2016. Check out a few of the jobs that made the cut, and find out how you can use career training to secure a new position.

Career #1: Registered Nurses

This popular health care career tops the list with an amazing amount of projected growth. Over a million new jobs for registered nurses are expected to open up through 2016. And unlike some medical careers, you don't need to work through years of medical school; some registered nurses earn an associate's degree. The BLS reports that registered nurses earned mean annual wages of $65,130 in 2008, making nursing a caring career with real rewards.

Our country is facing serious times. Fires, floods, foreclosures, and now a massive Wall Street financial bailout are the latest signs that we are caught in twin crises: economic downturn and environmental devastation.

Crisis No. 1: Radical Socioeconomic Inequality
The country has long been deep in the throes of a socioeconomic crisis, one characterized by contracting economic opportunity for working people, growing disparities between the races, and the hording of immense wealth and privileges at the very top of our society.

These features are getting worse, not better.

Crisis No. 2: Rampant Environmental Destruction
It is no longer a question of whether or not climate change is happening; it is a matter of how soon -- and how hard -- it will hit. When it comes to the looming climate crisis, everything is a question of degrees.

By burning fossil fuels to meet our ravenous hunger for power in our homes, factories and means of transportation, humanity adds about seven billion tons of carbon (26 billion tons of carbon dioxide) to the atmosphere every year. Meanwhile, we keep chopping down trees; those trees are the lungs of the planet, pulling carbon out of the air and breathing out oxygen. Therefore, clear-cutting whole continents undermines the earth's overall ability to soak up the carbon dioxide. In effect, we are running the carbon faucets at full blast while we plug up the carbon sinks. As a result, our carbon cup runneth over.

When the economy tanks, it’s time to shine. It’s not a guarantee for staying employed but it might tip the scale in your favor if the downsizing cross hairs focus in on your department. At the very least, it will help you get a good reference should the axe fall.

Here is a checklist to make sure you are being proactive during these shaky economic times. Some of these items may seem elementary, but I assure you they will be significant if staff-cutting decisions have to be made.

Behold the damage the recession has wrought on the consumer economy: Retailers and automakers have gone bankrupt, restaurants have closed, and malls have become ghost towns. Most businesses dependent on consumer spending, from clothing to computers to appliances, have felt the pinch.

But some consumer-product companies have benefited from the recession, usually because they sell the kind of stuff that helps people save money. Other companies have capitalized on timely technology or latched on to powerful trends that defy the recession. To identify some of these recession winners, I analyzed data provided by financial research firm Capital IQ, a unit of Standard & Poor's, to see which consumer-products firms have gained revenue and market share since the recession began near the end of 2007. Then I researched earnings reports and other sources to see which products have fueled each company's growth.

For many of these companies, any increase in revenue over the past two years is a nifty accomplishment, since overall sales of household goods have fallen by more than 30 percent, according to Capital IQ. And sales of supposedly recessionproof "staple" items like food, beverages, and personal products have barely risen. So firms that have significantly outpaced the rest of their industry deserve special attention.