Congratulations, would-be journalists. Your employment prospects have just improved.
Journalist second-worst job behind maid, cook
According to a new survey from CareerCast, which releases a list of America’s 200 best and worst jobs, “newspaper reporter” moved up one spot to 199, climbing from last year’s rank as the worst job in America.
This year journalists beat out lumberjack, ranked 200, but still remained behind enlisted military personnel, taxi driver, head cook, garbage collector, corrections officer and dock worker. Interestingly, in this lower tier of jobs was also photojournalist, ranked 186; advertising salesperson, ranked 189; and broadcaster, ranked 196.
Top of list includes math, computer skills – and financial planner and economist
Among the top jobs were mathematician, ranked 1; tenured university professor, ranked 2; software engineer and computer systems analyst, ranked 7 and 8 respectively; while financial planner and economist ranked 16 and 18 respectively.
Two industries experiencing negative change
“The two industries have changed dramatically since I started,” said Eric Johnson, editor of Northern Logger, whose family owned a tree farm in Wisconsin and who successfully found work in journalism. Newspaper reporter and lumberjack rank near the bottom of the list due in part due to dwindling hiring prospects. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 9% drop in logging positions by 2022, and a 13% decline in reporters.
“The evolution of the newspaper industry is a move to more of a digital model,” the report notes. “Similarly, the lumberjack’s job is increasingly modernized through technology. Johnson says mechanization has made for a safer work environment, but also streamlined the field and eliminated jobs.”
Prospects look bright
The report noted that for a mathematician like Jessika Sobanski of San Diego, there are a wide range of career opportunities.
“There’s a huge, huge range of opportunities for mathematicians,” she was quoted as saying. “Some can go the education route, but there’s much more.” Hiring demand also is very high among corporations, government agencies and the non-profit world, she says. In information technology, where the unemployment rate was below the US average at 4.8%, and two IT jobs rank among the 10 best: software engineer and computer systems analyst.
