Prepared Workers Can Weather Storm of Layoffs.

Byline: Kathleen Lynn

Oct. 7--Recessions are like tornadoes: They hit some people a lot harder than others. If you keep your job, a recession is bearable. But if you're thrown out of work, it's a disaster.

"The only way you can prepare yourself -- which is different from protecting yourself -- is to continue to invest in your skills," says Carl Van Horn, head of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

With most economists predicting that the United States is either in or near a recession, and with unemployment on the rise, workers are starting to get nervous. Their outlook is colored by two apparently contradictory long-term trends:

Until recently, the United States has enjoyed a decade of low unemployment, even labor shortages, caused by the nation's record economic expansion. Meanwhile,…