New Ranking of Best and Worst Occupations in the U.S.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Doing the Math to Find the Good Jobs: Mathematicians Land Top Spot in New Ranking of Best and Worst Occupations in the U.S., contains the results of a study to find the best and worst occupations in the country.
They didn’t actually ask anyone if they liked their job, which I immediately assumed that this article would be about. This list is based on data that may have nothing to do with job satisfaction, but then that’s apparently not what this study was measuring.
Of all the best/worst job lists that I have seen, I believe that this one shows the most researcher bias.
What is the purpose for this list? If you want a “safe” job, then this list might be for you. Mathematicians may not crawl under cars, but what about the rewards that come from doing something you love?
According to this list, the “best” jobs are the ones that require you to sit at a desk all day, be indoors rather then outdoors, have no contact with people, white-collar rather then blue-collar, have fewest deadlines, and have the least amount of physical labor.
In the article that describes the study, they interviewed several workers in jobs at the bottom of the list and found that they really liked their job. One was even noted as being “passionate about his profession.” These two interviews seem to contradict the findings of the study.
Whether people liked their job was not included in this research of “best and worst” jobs. Why is that quality so quickly dismissed?
Did a white-collar person design this study? What would have been the outcome if a blue-color person designed the study? We’d probably see jobs that demand physical labor, contact with people, deadlines, etc. at the top of the list rather than at the bottom.
Frankly, it’s hard to come up with a list about anything and not show some kind of bias. That’s why it’s good to look at lots of lists when looking for a career. If you compare across multiple lists, you should get a more realistic view of careers.
Unfortunately, the best careers in the near future have not even been created yet, and are not on anyone’s list.
Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.
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Chris Droessler |
School-to-Career Blog 
First blog I read after wakeup from sleep today!
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Quadera
March 3, 2009
I think the technology industry is one of the safest industries around.
SmartTechPeople
April 27, 2009
I have always found that it alot easier to get the job that you want if you just go to the comany and do research about waht they are tying to acomplish or where they are going in the future. also call the company and ask about the person that is doing the intrview, look them up on line and find areas of common interest before you go the interview.
Duck Dude
May 22, 2009
every person have different view about the best job (dream job 🙂 ). i believe a list cannnot made a guy to choose a career path, as mentioned in the article a new job site , there a renot of new job sites comming up but most of them are white collar jobs. I have seen a pretty new on job site where users can post all kind off jobs . if a hardware company started marketing there employees and raise there salary and charge clients accordingly then i believe in the very next list a hardware job would be number 1 in list 🙂
Philip
September 18, 2009
That’s great information on World occupation.
Albreta Smith
September 18, 2009
When children’s are grows they also start thinking about future. At the time of choosing stream, everyone very much worried about what subject is good for future because no one can predict the future.
Job Career
July 6, 2010