At this point in the recession it’s probably safe to say any job is a good job, but according to a study conducted by job search portal CareerCast, in order to identify the best, you have to also determine which are the worst. After all, not all of us can have employment in finances or IT industry.
The worst 25 are quite surprising and their methodology makes me wonder if they took into account things like pensions, vacations and benefits. How else could cops and temporary circus workers rank so closely together?
What ever is the case, here is the list of 25 worst jobs in 2010. The list is ordered so that number 1. is the job with the title of the worst job in 2010. I hope your job is not on the list.
25. Stationary engineers, aka boiler operators
Salary: start at $31,000 and top out at $75,000
24. Machine tool operators
Salary: start at $22,000 and top out at $50,000
23. Drill press operators
Salary: start at $21,000 and top out at $48,000
22. Roofers
Salary: start at $22,000 and top out at $59,000
21. Police officers
Salary: start at $30,000 and top out at $80,000
20. Choreographers
Salary: start at $18,000 and top out at $67,000
19. Machinists
Salary: start at $22,000 and top out at $55,000
18. Seamen
Salary: start at $21,000 and top out at $52,000
17. Newspaper reporters
Salary: start at $20,000 and top out at $77,000
16. “Stevedores” or longshoremen
Salary: start at $22,000 and top out at $62,000
15. Emergency medical technicians
Salary: start at $19,000 and top out at $49,000
14. Sheet metal workers
Salary: start at $24,000 and top out at $74,000
13. Firefighters
Salary: start at $22,000 and top out at $72,000
12. Photojournalists
Salary: start at $16,000 and top out at $60,000
11. Butchers
Salary: start at $18,000 and top out at $45,000
10. Mail carriers
Salary: start at $37,000 and top out at $52,000
9. Meter readers
Salary: start at $20,000 and top out at $54,000
8. Construction workers (laborers)
Salary: start at $18,000 and top out at $54,000
I work in IT; I make more money but the work is boring and pointless. Most of these jobs have more intrinsic value but American society just doesn’t work that way ; pay is pretty much inversely proportional to actual value.
Plumbers and garbageman are the backbone of civilization.
As I looked through these I couldn’t help thinking “why”. What is so bad about this or that job?
If your going to list them you need to include your reasons, which very likely would not be the same reason or view as others.
Choreographers and photojournalists are very good jobs
Wow.. You Americans are spoiled brats.. Your lowest salary is like highest wag in Europe.. and we got higher taxes and more expensive electronics..
No wonder you got Financial crisis.. welcome to the reality.
I’m glad to see that the comments for this post generally reflect my own feelings about it. Get a job for which you are actually qualified. Gold digger, maybe.
What about cooks/chefs? I love my job, but I’m one of the above, and we never get benefits, consistently work long hours, with low wages. It’s the textbook example of “labor of love”.
So, where was suic*de call center operator? or taking care of old people in a nursing home?
If its just your opinion, state it in the title, don’t list it as a fact
IE “the top 25 jobs I feel are the worst to have in 2010″ <— opinion not a fact
and where is blogger on this list, I think the top salary is around $18k
or how about grocery clerk, or maybe needle exchange attendant? or the guy who picks up de*d homeless from back alleys, didn't make the list either?
Every list that I or anybody else makes IS personal view. This list has been compiled just for the fun of it.
If you think you can compile a better list of 25 worst jobs and give reasons, I would be happy to publish it on Chill Out Point.
So that you can all enjoy it.
I want to hear some creative and constructive propositions on your part: Please write some of the jobs you believe would fit this list perfectly
I really liked this website until I hit this article. The article leaves out peripheral benefits such as health insurance, hazard pay, overtime (which police almost always get for example), and most importantly, the experience in itself. Some people would literally PAY to have access and see things first hand around the world as a photojournalist, yet it’s considered worse than many of those repetitious jobs?
I would really suggest COP to take out this article, or at least modify it/clarify it’s a personal article, very disappointing to see such a poor quality article.
Apparently the common theme is that the author is messed up for this…REMEMBER Its NOT the author. The author is just relaying info he/she read and DOESNT BELIEVE IT EITHER…HE SAYS IT IN THE FIRST LINE OF HIS SECOND PARAGRAPH…CareerCast are the guys we should be mad at…
Cus dude the numbers were way off. I am from a metropolitan area that is also close to some harbors/ports where the police and fire start off at $56K+ while in the fire tower/academy, and OT can EASILY raise that. Dont like cops/fire/medics/doc workers/metal workers getting OT? Then stop requiring them to go to court/the hospital/take a mandatory extra shift/etc…Not to mention there is a pension and the stories you will have to tell when youre older…The metal workers make bank especially close to port side…Butchers are frikin artists for what they can do, no its a wee bit more complicated than put the pointy thing into the dead thing…I mean if he is going national average then the numbers scew, but really…what are the living wages there? If i’m makeing $40k but my mortgage was only $600 a month then, technically, i’d be doing better than that guy who is doing the same thing for $56k but his mortgage is $1200/mo…ya gotta take everything into perspective…
NOW EVERYONE GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS!!! CRUSADE!!!!! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!! CareerCast
while i agree that the article is some seriously inaccurate elitist bull****, you are complaining about a link farm article that someone wasnt even proud enough to put their name on.
prejudiced shallow elitist
and so we go.
i think its funny how there is not one positive comment about this “WORST JOB OF 2010″. who thinks they have a better job making up things and putting in on the web, over saving lives and actually doing things.
What a pitiful compilation of “Worst” jobs. A lumberjack would be my personal preference. This website is rapidlby deteriorating with each new post.
wow, this is wrong in so many ways there is nowhere to start.
@ skon your honestly trying to tell me your have 28 years experience as a machinist (let alone any job) and you make about 6.70? isnt minimum wage at least 8 bucks in most places.
not buying that cr*p buddy im a steel fabricator 1st year and i make much more…much much more
It actually depends where you live
Bad article. Photojournalist a bad job ?! Ok the pay might not be that great depending on your talent but you get to travel the world all expenses paid ( and if you do this job it’s that you love traveling )
This is one of the worst articles I have stumbled upon. You have no justification for your job options and frankly this sucks.
I have to call BS on the welder claim. at 18 years old with 3 years of school i was making 65k plus overtime as a journeyman welder. now, at 25 i am making just under 80k as a welder supervisor still spending 20+ hours a week under the hood. in truth i am on the lower end of the pay scale for my skill-set and experience.
This is the best one I’ve heard! I couldn’t agree more, pure genius
This list is really stupid. I’d much rather work cutting down trees, work with metal, take photos, SAVE LIVES.
How are any of these the ‘worst jobs’? Not in comparison to many of the places I’ve worked, try working at a cinema, or a coffee shop.
Maybe you should put down blogger, earns hardly anything in order for everyone to think they’re wrong.
I’m a boiler operator who works with many machinists and welders. I live in Long Beach Ca. and know many longshoremen. These are all GREAT jobs to have. They are union. They are well paying and have wonderful benefits. Not one person I know including myself makes less then your maximum pay. Longshoremen easily make 6 figure salaries. This is a truly stupid list based on no real factual data.
wow, bet the person only judges jobs by salary or social status, pretty shallow. i dont think he realizes some people dont really care about the salary and just want to do volunteer work such as UN or red cross. medical technicians? BS. anything medical related in australia is in very short supply, so salary would definately be a lot higher.
Those salary’s are ridiculous, here in a third world country (South Africa), a lawyer after 10 years of practice would be lucky to be earning that sought of salary. A police person after 10 years earns about &2000 a month.
These wages are way off. At least for the part of the US I live in none of these would pay even 1/2 this much. An EMT in this county makes a max of $12,000 a year and that is one of the best paying jobs you can get if your not a Dr.! I’ve been a machinists for 28 years and never have made nor know any other machinists that make more then $15k a year. And that’s in a union shop! Where the h*ll did the author of this article get his figures?
This may be the worst written article on the web. Police officer, firefighter, EMT? You have to be kidding. Firefighters are consistently ranked at the top of the best jobs to have. Have you ever seen their retirement/pensions? They work 10 days a month!
Funny I didn’t see fast food worker as number 1
All these wages are very wrong.
For one, welders make a lot more.. and there are a lot less of them.
Roustabouts, or oil riggers can make upwards to 100k/year, depending on work.
The rest are also inaccurate.
Whoever wrote this, stop, just stop.
yeah once i saw the firefighting, welding, EMT, and police officer i just though this was stupid. it depends where you get hired for most of these, where im at firefighters start at 50,000
Some of those are accurate but most are *****:
Dairy farmers here in NZ can make anywhere up from 140k a year or more (depending on how big the farm is and if it is shared between several workers). Would suck getting up at 4am every day though
I see that retail cashier (ask a walmart cashier what they make) and teacher (starting salary in my state is 28,000- and it was just upped.) I’m sorry, but I look at some of these wages and say: How can I get that job!? There are many that are MUCH worse.
Wow, 25 arbitrary jobs, many of which are good, honest hard work and absolutely vital to our society (ever watch Dirty Jobs?). Some are also highly desirable and have competitive hiring processes – anyone who’s tested to be a police officer or firefighter know what I’m talking about.
A lot of that is cr**, where I live in CA starting salary for a police officer is 85k, and the benefits are ridiculous. In fact the data for a lot of the jobs listed above is suspect. Throw union benefits in for a lot of those and they actually pay absurdly well for the minimal (if any) skill/education level required to do the job.
This is completely inaccurate; sailors / seamen have the same pay scale as any other branch in the military, and military pay starts at $17k for E1 at lowest and tops at $224k at O10 at highest (although the latter is a pay grade held by very, very few). The majority of servicemembers are E4-E6 between five and ten years in service, which would place the majority of pay in between $27k and $37k as a rough majority of salaries.
These numbers are completely made up. I am currently looking for a welding engineering job but i also look at welding jobs plus at my college they send career “teachers” to classes to look at average salaries. A welder normally starts at, at least, $50,000 same as a welding engineer but they top off at about $100,000 while a welding engineer tops off at around $140,000. Same with alot of machinists and construction workers. So I have no idea who got these numbers. Also these are some of the best jobs (welders, construction workers, machinist…) because businesses give the best benefits up front because there are few of these types of people doing this job and they want to keep the new recruits.
also this list is false because im both a roofer and a welder and a top welder can easily make over 100K a year!
stupid
Some of these are truly respectable jobs and you should be thankful someone out there is working to collect your garbage, read your meters and drive your taxis.
Its not like being a business executive or a company CEO is the ONLY good job to have…this list is so pathetic, unjustifiable and out right stupid!
Wow, dumb f***** — you have no idea what you’re talking about when it comes to many of these jobs. Another 10 year old kid writing something “big” online….go back to bed.
horrible list indeed, explain it!
What a horrible list. Just 25 random jobs with no explanation or justification why these are so much worse than any other 25 random jobs.
Forgot about “WAL*MART shop assistant” salary: start at 13,000 and top out at 26,000.
This are jobs with heavenly salaries for third world countries. Don’t act spoiled. Be thankful you have any one of these jobs.
Obviously,you must be kidding.
HAHAHA this list is horribly inaccurate! I’m not sure which country you’re talking about, but in Canada, most welders make well over $90,000/ year, Iron workers are at about the same, and a letter carrier makes $30/hour with the best possible benefits, and an incredible retirement package! I can tell you, I know of MANY jobs that would beat anything on this list. Poorly done.
They help the people God bless them
This is a horrible list. It is highly inaccurate as we all know the worst job around is most likely being a Jizz Mopper. Or a Fluffer.
So all of these are worse than flipping burgers? Or being a late night convenience store clerk? How about being the person at animal shelters who has the unfortunate duty of dispatching the animals that have been there too long? That seems pretty crappy to me.
This list would have been much better if they had called it the most thankless jobs and frankly, I’d be happy to have just about any of them.
In other words, everybody that actually contributes to society as opposed to people that stare at computer screens all day that don’t.
Mostly blue collar jobs.
How is it with white collar jobs? Or were these taken into consideration?
And how do the statistics compare across borders?