I'm related to another doctoral student at UO and what I hear from Eugene is that there is a demand for firefighters during the summer dry season.  Flames came within a few miles of campus, with doors and windows taped shut to keep out the smoke.

The model is flawed because many of us are self-employed doing mostly tax work for a few months, then self-employed doing other (sometimes related) work for the rest of the year.  Co-workers?  Who would want to hire me?  It's not like I have any practical skills, like scooping ice cream or catching salmon.