10. Mail Carrier
Pros: Stable employment, relatively high median income, good federal pension.
Cons: The unofficial motto of the Post Office is “neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” This means you’re working on Christmas Eve, even in the middle of a blizzard.
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.
Here is list of top ten jobs that rank as the worst in 2010, according to research into 200 different positions in this year’s exclusive CareerCast.com Jobs Rated report.
9. Meter Reader
Pros: Low stress, relatively high income for senior workers.
Cons: Poor hiring outlook due to increased automation, monotonous work in all weather conditions, little room for advancement.
8. Construction Worker
Pros: Good income potential with overtime, opportunity to become an independent contractor and start your own business.
Cons: Extreme, physically demanding labor in all weather conditions, risk of injury or death, poor hiring outlook in a struggling economy, seasonal layoffs.
7. Taxi Driver
Pros: Independence, ability to set your own hours.
Cons: Low income, high stress due to risk of robbery, unpleasant work environment (imagine being stuck in your car with a stranger – all day, every day).
6. Garbage Collector
Pros: Low unemployment and good job security (unless people suddenly start producing less trash), relatively high salary for an unskilled profession.
Cons: You spend all day outdoors in all weather, lifting and dumping other peoples’ trash. Need we say more?
5. Welder
Pros: Good income with potential for substantial overtime pay, work is often done indoors.
Cons: Like Ironworkers, the job market for Welders is linked to the construction industry, and suffers during an economic slump. While not as dangerous as Ironworker, there is still a potential for severe injury.
4. Dairy Farmer
Pros: Strong hiring outlook and relatively low unemployment, since the demand for milk isn’t expected to drop anytime soon.
Cons: Long hours, intense physical demands, close proximity to penned-in cows tends to make for an unpleasant (and sometimes dangerous) work environment.
3. Ironworker
Pros: Because of Ironworker’s ties to the construction industry, in a good economy there is often a good hiring outlook and pay with overtime.
Cons: In a weak economy (like the current one), the job often suffers from layoffs and low pay. A great deal of climbing, balancing and concentration is required, leading to risk of injury.
2. Lumberjack
Pros: The appeal of working in the “great outdoors,” lots of exercise.
Cons: Need to work in all-weather conditions from triple-digit heat to freezing cold, poor employment opportunities, high risk of being injured by everything from falling trees to chainsaws, and even sawdust inhalation.
1. Roustabout
Pros: Decent income potential for a job with few skill requirements (top-end salary is $49,000 + overtime).
Cons: Long hours, dirty and dangerous working conditions, isolation (when working on offshore oil rigs or in inhospitable locales), high stress due to the constant risk of severe injury or death.
Source: Career Cast
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OK that does indeed make a lot of sense dude.
Lou
http://www.anonymous-surfing.es.tc
Why is it, the 10 worse are actually good paying? Sure they are all heavy labor, but there are people who love to be physical all the time. Mail carrier is pretty tough. I tried that one once and have to agree, its hard labor.
Not all 10 are good paying. Being a taxi driver is low income. It’s just better than NO income.
First…..
But seriously this is the stupidist list ever. What about Fast food worker, telemarketer, all kinds of minimum wage crap?
Worst Article ever. Where in the US do “armed groups” kidnap mailmen? Are any of the pictures even from the US? Half the list could be combined into “construction worker”. No basis in anything other than the author’s unimaginitive opinions.
Pretty funny that “first” is third.
FOURTH!
Since when are mail carriers required to live in dormitories and unable to go wherever the hell they want after the end of their shift?
I think you may have them confused with mail carriers in some other part of the world.
They all sound good to me/
Good article, but I don’t know if these are the worst jobs in America. Worst careers, maybe.
“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.”
Huh? Are you talking about the USPS? If so, then this is not the case. You go home every night and they a crap load of vacation time.
Cable installer:
Pros: work outdoors, fairly independent, good pay with much OT.
Cons: too much OT, working inside peoples homes with different conditions, attitudes and levels of cleanliness. Work outdoors in extreme weather with potential for injury. Customers often see you as a handyman and will expect you to perform extra tasks outside the scope of your responsibilities.
I can’t tell you how much more fun work became when, after years spent in bland offices, I took a job that was almost entirely outside, in the weather. I’d rather work outside than be cooped up inside most of the time. So I don’t agree that working outside should be counted as a “CON” all the time. You get exercise, for one thing. It is sad to see the effects on people of decades spent in indoor work. In fact I think the writer’s criteria for selecting jobs needs closer scrutiny. A worst job to me would be inside, extremely noisy, bad air, saftety hazards and repetitive motion that wrecks your body–performed on rotating shifts or on night shift with little personal control over the work. But I guess most of those jobs are being done overseas now.
Do you know why these jobs are looked apon as being the worst, it’s because we have too many over educated young people now. None of which would ever lower themselves to taking a blue coller job. This is list only snobs with zero life experience and 60,000 student loan debts would agree with.
but they have a job better than no job…….