Jobs Rated

By: Andrew Strieber

From bad to worse: thanks to upheaval in the oil industry, Roustabout ranks as the Worst Job of 2011 – its second straight year in last place.

Twelve-hour shifts, exposure to the elements in hostile environments, low pay, high risk of injury and isolation from loved ones for weeks at a time are just some of the factors that combine to make Roustabout the worst job of 2011.

By: Les Krantz

Q: I know people who work (or worked) at some of the top rated jobs in your study, yet they tell me of the high unemployment and the many difficulties in the field. How can these jobs possibly be rated so high?

A: No matter how "healthy" a profession may be, there will always be workers having difficulties, especially with unemployment during these tough economic times. But unlike anecdotal evidence, the Jobs Rated study is based on extensive polling, mainly from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which surveys 100s and often 1,000s of workers at each job. Our Jobs Rated study is very well documented with reliable, up-to-date data from the nation at large.

By: CareerCast.com

How We Determined the Top 200 Jobs of 2011

In order to quantify and rank the many different aspects of all 200 jobs listed in the 2011 Jobs Rated report, researchers reviewed various critical aspects of each profession to identify general categories that are inherent to every job: These were categorized into five "Core Criteria:"

Environment, Income, Outlook, Stress and Physical Demands

Below is an explanation of how we determined the rankings in each of these five Core Criteria. After each Core Criteria item was scored and ranked individually, we computed the Overall Rankings for each job, which are explained at the end of this methodology.

By: Andrew Strieber

Picture yourself in a dingy basement laboratory. A lone florescent bulb bathes the walls with flickering light. On a large metal table is the body of a man, his throat slashed open, his skin cold and stiff. Clearly he's been dead for some time. Suddenly, something moves just beyond your peripheral vision. Was it a rat? A roach? Then you see it again – a slight twitch in the dead man's hand. Looking closer, you realize that the movement isn't a twitch; it's coming from beneath his skin. Grabbing a scalpel, you slice the man's fingers open one by one, searching for something alive…

This may sound like a horror movie scene, but it's a typical day at the office for a Forensic Entomologist, which ranks as the scariest job of 2010.

By: Andrew Strieber

Less than two years after an economic crisis sent stock markets reeling and pushed many well-known banks to the brink of collapse, Wall Street employers have managed an improbable comeback. In fact, Stockbroker is now projected to be the fastest growing job with the largest income growth over the next six years, according to the 2010 Fastest Growing Jobs Report by CareerCast.com.

Surprised? You should be, since it was just early last year when stories of financial turmoil dominated the news and the employment prospects for Stockbrokers looked grim. But thanks in large part to bank bailouts and a resilient stock market, Wall Street is once again an industry that offers impressive growth potential and a fast track to wealth, according to the report.

By: Andrew Strieber

Pressure Drop: Workplace stress can damage productivity, mental well-being and physical health. But is an anxiety-free office worth a potential loss in career satisfaction and job security?

Job-related stress has long been the nemesis of workers around the globe. Stress has been linked in studies to everything from low productivity to increased illness to obesity. Fallout from the recession has only compounded the problem. Many work harder for less money, and wonder if they'll still have a job at day's end. Combine this with new technology that makes it easier than ever to work around the clock (and even on vacation), and it's no wonder that on-the-job stress – and finding ways to manage it – has become an ever more important issue.

While it's possible to find countless books, teas, exercise techniques and more offering you a way to relax, this focus on peace at the office raises a question: Is there such a thing as too little workplace stress?

By: Andrew Strieber

Layoffs, bankruptcies and rising unemployment – the past 12 months have been an especially traumatic time to be looking for a new job. Yet when considering the best and worst jobs for 2010, the upheaval that spread across multiple industries last year hasn't altered the old adage: "the more things change, the more they stay the same." For the second year in a row, job hunters will want to brush up their math, science and computer skills if they want to land a top-ranked, highly rewarding position.

Actuary, a job that entails calculating the probability and financial impact of illness and property loss, ranks as the best job for 2010, based on research into 200 different positions in this year's exclusive CareerCast.com Jobs Rated report.

By: Andrew Strieber

Picture this as your typical workday: You wake up at 5a.m. (or 5p.m. for the night shift) and head to the dining hall for a breakfast of cafeteria food. Next comes a 12-hour shift working outdoors in either the desert heat, an ocean storm or the bitter cold of an Alaskan winter. There may even be armed groups nearby eager to kidnap you for ransom. As for the work itself, it's backbreaking physical labor with a high risk of injury or death. And when the day is over, you still can't go home because you work in an isolated location that you're able to leave only every two weeks or so. And when it's time to sleep, you head to your shared dorm room and crash until 5a.m., when work starts all over again.

Sound like fun? While conditions vary, this is the life of most Roustabouts, a job that ranks as the worst in 2010, according to research into 200 different positions in this year's exclusive CareerCast.com Jobs Rated report.