Dairying among world’s worst jobs
DAIRY farming has been ranked as one of the ten worst jobs in the US.
In a list compiled for the prestigious Forbes business magazine, only oil rig or gas pipeline workers, lumberjacks, and ironworkers — in order of the worst jobs in America — were judged to have it tougher than those involved in the raising of cattle for milk production.
Oil rig workers — also called roustabouts, in the US — routinely work 12-hour shifts in blistering desert heat or frigid ocean storms, sleep in crowded dormitories, and risk severe injury or death.
The rankings came from CareerCast, a jobs website that evaluated the pay, hiring outlook, work environment, stress and physical demands of 200 professions, using data from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, the Census Bureau, and trade association studies.
One of the founders of CareerCast, Tony Lee, conceded that, ultimately, best and worst are in the eye of the beholder.
“If you don’t mind having a job that doesn’t pay well, and where you work outside in 110-degree heat in extremely dangerous conditions,” he says, “then you may be happy as a roustabout.”
Each of those criteria was broken down into elements that were combined to arrive at a point ranking. For instance, in the stress category, the study measured pressures from deadlines, competitiveness, confinement, exposure to the public, speed required and 18 other factors.
Rated better than dairy farming, among the ten worst jobs, were the welder, the garbage collector, the taxi driver, the construction worker, the meter reader, and the mail carrier.
Winning the title of best job in the US is actuary — the person who interprets statistics for the insurance industry, to find the probabilities of accidents, sickness and death, and loss of property from theft and natural disasters.
Compared to actuaries, physical demands on dairy farmers are nearly ten times heavier, and stress is one-third greater. The average income for actuaries is more than 2½ times better, and the job security three times better.
