Americans are spending big bucks on their pets, making jobs as a veterinarian or vet tech recession-proof. Jim Axelrod reports.  

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(CBS)

Donna Sharp made a good living even without a high school diploma, earning about $19 an hour putting stripes on recreational vehicles in this northern Indiana county known as the RV capital of the world.

Then Monaco Coach Corp. announced in July that it was closing the plant in Wakarusa where Sharp worked, as well as plants in Elkhart and Nappanee in September. Other RV companies were doing the same, contributing to an estimated 8,000 job cuts that have caused the county's unemployment rate to triple in a year to 15.3 percent.

Shares of Career Education Corp. surged 20 percent Friday after the company reported a jump in fourth quarter net income late Thursday that greatly surpassed the analysts’ consensus estimate.

Career Education, headquartered in Hoffman Estates, reported net earnings that more than tripled to $31.2 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with earnings of $8.8 million, or 10 cents per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.

Analyst estimates compiled by Zacks Investment Research Inc. projected earnings per share of 21 cents for the company, 14 cents short of the actual figure for the quarter.