This is our 2009 10 Best Jobs report. See the 10 Best Jobs of 2010 [1]
Remember that kid in elementary school who always had a pencil and calculator nearby, and while the rest of us drew pictures, read comic books or played cards, that kid was happily crunching numbers – for fun. Fast forward 20 years or so, and it turns out that kid probably has one of best careers around today, according to an exclusive new study of the nation's best and worst jobs.
Compiling research on 200 different positions, this year's JobsRated.com report ranks mathematician as the country's best job, followed by actuary and statistician – three jobs for which a calculator and solitude are prerequisites. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Monty Python troupe made famous the song, "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK." Unfortunately, our study finds that lumberjacks have the nation's worst job, followed by dairy farmers and taxi drivers, which seems to bear out the old grade-school adage that "it's better to earn a living with your head rather than with your hands."
Of course, it doesn't take much effort to determine that mathematician is a more attractive job to most people than lumberjack. But ranking 200 jobs from best to worst is no easy feat. To compile this year's report, researchers relied on five criteria to compare jobs as different as librarian and sheet metal worker. Those criteria: stress, physical demands, hiring outlook, compensation and work environment (for more info on scoring, visit our Methodology Page [2]).
If advanced equations aren't your strong suit, however, there are plenty of other jobs that score well, too. After the top three math-oriented careers, the rest of the top 10 read like a who's who of well-educated professions:
All these positions rate highly in the key criteria, and all require at least a college degree, if not graduate-school credentials. But whatever job you're interested in learning more about, JobsRated.com data will be a valuable aid to help ensure that your choice measures up to the standards you've set for yourself. Jobs are also ranked by industry, giving you the best options in fields ranging from Agriculture to Travel.
If lumberjack is currently America's worst job, followed by dairy farmer and taxi driver, what other positions should you avoid? Read on to see JobsRated.com's complete list of the 10 WORST jobs you can get.
Continue to the next page to see the 10 WORST Jobs of 2009
This is our 2009 10 Worst Jobs report. See the 10 Worst Jobs of 2010 [13]
If you're lucky enough to have one of this year's 10 best jobs [14], you most likely enjoy a pleasant, low-stress work environment. But even the best jobs can be unsatisfying for some people. In those cases it may be time to seek a new position [15], but only if you're very careful in your selection. For example, if you're a desk jockey with dreams of dumping the rat race, you might want to consult JobsRated.com's rankings before saying goodbye to your cubicle. According to our empirical data, many of the nation's worst jobs involve physical labor and extended time in the great outdoors.
Based on research into 200 different positions, this year's JobsRated.com report concludes that while mathematician earns the coveted title of America's best job, the career squarely at the bottom of our rankings is lumberjack. What makes being a lumberjack so unappealing? Also known as loggers, lumberjacks perform backbreaking physical labor in an unpleasant environment – detriments that also apply to our next-worst job, dairy farmer, which requires employees to rise with the dawn and work hard for a minimum of 50 hours every week. Despite their privations, both positions pay less than the salary earned by an entry-level bookkeeper.
Rounding out the 10 worst careers are jobs saddled with other glaring deficiencies. Taxi drivers deal with crime and the stress of traffic all day, while a sailor is away from home for most of the year while dealing with storms and pirates. Roustabouts, who maintain oil rigs and pipelines, shoulder intense physical demands in a dangerous environment, while the disadvantages of being a garbage collector are pretty self-explanatory. Most of the positions in JobsRated.com's lowest rung have an average annual salary below $40,000.
If you're considering a career change [16], the following are your worst overall options:
With the exception of some positions like EMT, many of these jobs require little more than basic training and, in most cases, a strong back and large muscles. But even if a job like lumberjack isn't on your radar, info from JobsRated.com can help ensure your career choices are the right ones. In the coming weeks we will release rankings based on such criteria as stress and income, along with a comprehensive list of all 200 surveyed positions. And if you simply must try a new career in the great outdoors [27], be warned – according to our data, you're better off staying close to your desk.
Mathematician may be the nation's best job while lumberjack is the worst, but where does your occupation stand in our rankings? Check out our complete list of 200 positions for detailed info on today's job market.
See 2009's Complete Ranking of 200 Jobs [28]