The most and least stressful jobs in 2018
Jobs portal CareerCast has published its ranking of the most and least stressful jobs in 2018.
While the ranking is based predominantly on jobs in the US, the survey which determines the rankings is open to international responses and generally reflect stress levels of the careers themselves, rather than locations they are in.
The careers that top the list for 2018 are those that commonly face risk of death or injury, physical demands, and other hazards every single day, CareerCast said.
Meanwhile, low-stress jobs typically are away from the public eye, and how low risk of bodily harm and will not typically deal with high travel or workplace hazards.
Enlisted Military Personnel, firefighters, airline pilots and police officers have the four most stressful jobs of 2018, while the people with the least stressful jobs are diagnostic medical sonographers, hair stylists, audiologists, and university professors.
“However, the least stressful job – Diagnostic Medical Sonographer – isn’t merely conducting pregnancy ultrasounds,” said Kyle Kensing, online content editor at CareerCast. “Their days may include the task of cancer screenings, which can add stress to the job.”
High-stress jobs have compounding risk factors, from being in the public face and tight deadlines (reporters and business people), or being in constant high-risk environments.
When searching for a profession with low stress, CareerCast said it is important to keep in mind the job’s growth outlook – most notably that some of the least stressful jobs are also fading out.
To rank the most and least stressful careers from the 200 professions on the Jobs Rated report, CareerCast evaluated 11 stress factors: travel required; growth potential; deadlines; working in the public eye; competition in the field; physical demands; environmental conditions; hazards encountered on a regular basis; own life at risk; life of others at risk; and meeting or interacting with the public at large.
These are the 10 most stressful jobs in 2018
| # | Job | Stress factor |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enlisted military personnel | 72.47 |
| 2 | Firefighter | 72.43 |
| 3 | Airline pilot | 61.07 |
| 4 | Police officer | 51.97 |
| 5 | Event coordinator | 51.15 |
| 6 | Reporter | 49.90 |
| 7 | Broadcaster | 49.83 |
| 8 | Public relations executive | 49.44 |
| 9 | Senior corporate executive | 48.71 |
| 10 | Taxi driver | 48.11 |
These are the 10 least stressful jobs in 2018
| # | Job | Stress factor |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diagnostic medical sonographer | 5.11 |
| 2 | Hair stylist | 6.61 |
| 3 | Audiologist | 7.22 |
| 4 | University professor | 8.16 |
| 5 | Medical records technician | 8.54 |
| 6 | Compliance officer | 8.78 |
| 7 | Jeweler | 9.05 |
| 8 | Pharmacy technician | 9.14 |
| 9 | Operations research analyst | 9.17 |
| 10 | Medical laboratory technician | 10.00 |
Read: Why it’s way more stressful to live in Joburg than in Cape Town
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