Most stressful jobs: Is yours among them?
Steam rises from the head of DeKalb County firefighter Shaun Kennedy. (John Spink, jspink@ajc.com)
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What do GIs, firefighters, airline pilots and, yes, public relations execs have in common? They are on the front line when it comes to stress on the job, according to a new workplace survey.
Military personnel, whose lives are always at risk whether in Afghanistan or on a base back home, and those responsible for them have the No. 1 and No. 2 most stressful jobs out there, according to CareerCast.com. In addition to risk, the group’s “jobs rated score” also takes into account travel, working in the public eye, physical demand and danger.
Which brings us to the third-most-stressful job, which is being a firefighter. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there were 81 on-duty fatalities in 2011 and 77 in 2012. Another study showed a high incidence of heart attacks among firefighter fatalities. Some would say the risk for both military personnel and firefighters seems high compared with the reward: a median salary of $41,998 (E-7, 8-plus years of experience) for military personnel and $45,250 for firefighters.
The job of a commercial airline pilot, who zips across the sky at 565 mph with the weight of hundreds of passengers and tons of metal on his or her shoulders, is also stressful. The pilots’ median salary of $92,060 may do a better job of reflecting the risk involved, some might say.
PR execs appear in the No. 5 spot because they have the stress that comes with damage control. Just think of the hairs they’ve pulled out working for disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong. The median pay in PR is $57,550, according to CareerCast.
Rounding out the top 10 stressful jobs are senior corporate executive (median salary $101,250); photojournalist ($29,130); newspaper reporter ($36,000); taxi driver ($22,440); and police officer ($55,010). According to the Officer Down Memorial Page website, 126 officers died in the line of duty across the country last year, some by gunfire, others in accidents.
Should your job be in the Top 10? Is the above list on target or a little out of whack? Here are the areas CareerCast.com considered: travel, income growth potential, deadlines, working in the public eye, competitiveness, physical demands, environmental conditions, hazards encountered, own life at risk, life of another at risk, and meeting the public.
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58 comments Add your comment
SB
January 9th, 2013
12:37 am
Taxi Driver, Photojournalist, Newspaper reporter, PLEASE. I am a 911 Police Dispatcher. Tell you what next time a armed man breaks into your house call (Christopher Seward) the “Newspaper Reporter” who evidently wrote this C&*P and see what he can do for you. Maybe he can write a stressful Eulogy for about it!!!
Texas Pete
January 9th, 2013
12:45 am
Why do people say government workers don’t do anything and are a waste of tax money but then when standing in line say they should hire more workers?
RN in ATL
January 9th, 2013
12:45 am
I would think all jobs/professions have cranked up many notches on the stress scale because all employers are demanding way more way faster with way less resources for less money and they know if you complain there is a line a few dozen deep waiting at the door so they dare you to quit. However, considering that the health field is doing all they can to give all the workload and responsibility to RN’s so that it is cheaper than paying doctors as costs keep on marching through the roof and these are people’s lives they hold in their hands, I would think nursing should have landed in the top 5. I’ve worked on hospital floors where veteran nurses with 20-30 years under their belts cry b/c their patient load is unrealistic, the patients are in much higher critical conditions, and we are constantly being asked to do things that put our licenses, our patients lives at risk, and in case of working in mental illness field, even our own lives at risk. So based on the fact RN’s did not even make the top ten, I say this poll was very poorly done or even bogus.
BamafaninGA
January 9th, 2013
4:52 am
How about you chose your job, so deal with it!! If you think it’s that stressful choose another one!!
Pink Collar
January 9th, 2013
5:15 am
Your Political Animal – so right. Most of these occupations listed are traditionally male. I have been a news editor and PR/marketing director — but teaching — BY FAR is more stressful. Constantly caught in the middle of prevailing political and institutionalized, nepotistic whims; parents who want happy kids and have not taught them the value of work and investment in self-development; and the new idea that our pay should be tied to the children’s performance! What if doctors’ pay were linked to their recalcitrant patient’s health and longevity, when people don’t want to quit smoking, eating fatty diets and sitting on the couch? This is an equation that rarely balances out, and teaching is, hands down, a killer.
Marc
January 9th, 2013
7:25 am
Almost every job that’s been mentioned, except tanker truck driver, has it’s stressful moments but are not perpetually stressful. I’ll throw this out there and wouldn’t have believed it until I did it; servers.
K
January 10th, 2013
11:46 am
The most stressful job is the one you don’t have, wondering every day how to care for your family.
A. S. Mathew
January 13th, 2013
11:41 am
In these hard economic times, even the once pleasant jobs have been turned as the worst in stress.
Now, those people living in a hut without many bills have far less stress. Some very dangerous jobs are stressful, but as they are routinely engaged in them, that will be less stressful to them. But for those people who never had the stress, when faced with unexpected stress, that will blow their brain off.