The 2012 CareerCast.com Job Stress Report, an annual survey of 200 different professions that measures work environment, job competitiveness and risk, has listed firefighting as the second most stressful job.
The five most stressful jobs all involve peril and significant hazards. They include Firefighters, who take on dangerous and complex fires, often coming in contact with poisonous gases or other hazardous materials; Airline Pilots, who face potential terrorist attacks and midair collisions; Military Generals, who are responsible for the lives of many others and often work in hazardous, stressful environments; and Police Officers, who enforce laws and are tasked with catching criminals.
If a more relaxed work environment is your goal, the five least stressful professions of 2012 are Medical Records Technicians, Jewelers, Hair Stylists, Dressmakers/Tailors and Medical Laboratory Technicians.
The criteria used by CareerCast.com researchers to determine the most and least stressful jobs includes 11 different factors that invoke stress. Each factor was assigned a range of points, and a high score was given if it was a major part of the job, while fewer points were given if it wasn’t normally required. Jobs that are in dangerous settings, have demanding deadlines or involve repetitive detailed work can increase stress levels, but stress is not limited to any particular job, industry, salary or education level.
“Not all jobs are created equal when it comes to stress levels,” explains Tony Lee, Publisher, CareerCast.com. “If avoiding workplace stress is your primary goal, there are many attractive options. And most interesting, your salary may not suffer. In fact, the most stressful job from our research this year pays about the same as the least stressful job.”
CareerCast.com‘s 10 Most Stressful Jobs of 2012
- Enlisted Military Soldier – Average Income $35,580
- Firefighter – Average Income $45,250
- Airline Pilot – Average Income $103,210
- Military General – Average Income $196,300
- Police Officer – Average Income $53,540
- Event Coordinator – Average Income $45,260
- Public Relations Executive – Average Income $91,810
- Corporate Executive (Senior) – Average Income $165,830
- Photojournalist – Average Income $40,000
- Taxi Driver – Average Income $22,440
CareerCast.com’s ranking system for job stress compares a range of different job demands that can reasonably be expected to evoke stress, including hiring outlook/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. For detailed information on how CareerCast.com ranks jobs by stress level, see the 2012 Jobs Rated Stress Methodology.
Read the full report: http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/10-most-stressful-jobs-2012
About CareerCast.com
CareerCast.com, created by Adicio, is a job search portal that offers extensive local, niche and national job listings from across North America, job-hunting, career-management and HR-focused editorial content, videos and blogs, and provides recruiters with the ability to post jobs directly to more than 800 niche career sites. CareerCast.com also compiles the Jobs Rated Report, where 200 jobs across North America are ranked based on detailed analysis of specific careers factors as well as a monthly employment index, which measures managerial recruitment activity online.
