Whole sector shrinking, should I change fields? (Detroit)

Many of the people I know in my field were laid off this year, including me as a forklift operator. I have transferable skills but no direct experience elsewhere. Who has switched fields?

I moved into operations work. The skills carried over and there were more openings than in my old field.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 7 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.