The Worst Jobs in the U.S.
Description
Some careers have it all–good pay, interesting work, excellent prospects–while others offer uncomfortable working conditions, marginal compensation, and dead-end career paths. The following jobs get low marks for these reasons and more.
Taxi driver
While this job requires that you spend many hours in an uncomfortable position, display solid interpersonal skills with sometimes psychopathic passengers, and keep a cool head in murderous traffic, it doesn’t pay well at all. Robbery is a substantial risk, because drivers work alone and often carry big wads of cash. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) claims that taxi drivers are much likelier than other workers to experience work-related injury.
Roustabout
Roustabouts perform routine physical labor and maintenance on oil rigs and pipelines. The recent Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster, which killed 11 workers, demonstrates the dangers these workers face. The hours are long, usually 12 hours on and 12 hours off, and the locations are so isolated that most roustabouts can leave the rigs only every two weeks or so.
Real estate agent
This is not necessarily a bad job, but because of the often long, erratic hours, the competitive nature of the field, the volatility of the real estate market, and the pressure to make sales, the Web site Careercast.com ranks real estate agent as the tenth most stressful job of 2010.
Travel agent
Jaunt ’round the world and get paid to do it, right? Nice work if you can get it (heavy emphasis on the if). The ease of using the plethora of available travel and airline websites to research and plan trips, make reservations, and purchase tickets has caused a huge drop in the demand for travel agents. Income is lower too; airlines no longer pay agents’ commissions (in fact, it costs agents to issue tickets for clients).
Logger
Yes, loggers get to work outside, but because of high unemployment and grueling physical demands, this job gets low marks. Perhaps even more dangerous than the job of roustabout, this job requires the use of dangerous equipment to harvest trees. Each year, there are 116 fatalities for every 100,000 workers in this field.
Armpit detective
According to Popular Science magazine, one of the ten worst jobs in science is “armpit detective.” Scientific researchers at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Pennsylvania study human odors in order to isolate the compounds that make us smell. Their main source of study is the human armpit. OK, so maybe it’s not as important as finding a cure for cancer, but finding a cure for body odor would make a lot of people happy.
Dressmaker
This job may require a great deal of skill; however, the BLS characterizes it as offering “low earnings and poor working conditions.” To add insult to injury, the industry is expected to “decline rapidly through 2018.” Add a higher than average incidence of workplace mishaps, and it’s no wonder this field is also marked by high turnover.
Emergency medical technician
We couldn’t survive without the vital services EMTs provide–EMTs are often the first responders to some of the most horrific events imaginable. In between? Long stretches of boredom and waiting. Some people find the job very rewarding, but the wage probably doesn’t feel that way–the median is $30,000 a year, according to the BLS.
Photojournalist
What could be bad about dashing off to exotic locales, capturing images that may earn the next Pulitzer Prize? The job itself is exciting and profoundly satisfying in some instances, but trying to get that perfect shot, sometimes in the worst of conditions, is difficult. And because most photojournalists are freelancers, if they don’t get the shot, they don’t get paid.
Portable toilet cleaner
Yes, we saved the worst for last. Using a tank and a vacuum, these hearty souls suck up all the waste left in a portable toilet. They must also wash down all surfaces inside the hut–thankfully, with a high-pressure hose. In most cases it takes only a few minutes, and the toilet cleaners can clean up to 60 a day. The upside to this job is the pay–as much as $50,000 a year.
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_worst_jobs_in_the_u_s-1344
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