The economic downturn has plunged the U.S. economy and shrunk employment figures by the millions. But if there's one industry that has remained strong amid the crisis, it would be education.

Such is the case of New York public schools, which in both good times and bad has called for thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff positions in the past decade, according to the Empire Center for New York State Policy.

The conservative think-tank reported that New York public schools during the period of 2008-09 hired 14,700 teachers and 8,600 non-teaching staff positions, which included administrators, guidance counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers.

The analysis was based on New York State Education Department figures, which showed that the total number of public schools teachers rose from 212,017 in 2000-01 to 226,764 in 2008-09. Non-teaching staff positions increased from 33,168 to 41,823 during the same period.

The report added that about half of the additional teachers specialized in special education, and the rest are divided among pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and the subject areas of math and science in all grade levels.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that public school teachers accounted for 3.5 million jobs in 2008, adding that job prospects are best in high-demand fields, such as mathematics, science and bilingual education.