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Presenting America's 20 Best And Worst Paying Jobs
While we fail to see any occupations listed for "insider trading hedge fund managers" or "high frequency market manipulators" in the just released list by the BLS listing the number of workers and wages earned for all official US occupations, we supposed it will have to do, incomplete as it may be.
Below, sorted by average annual wage, are the Top 20 best paying jobs in the US including the average hourly wage and also showing the number of people the BLS believes are employed in each, seasonally adjusted of course.
And here are the bottom 20, or worst-paying, US jobs. It is here the the minimum-wage debate is most acute... As is the debate just how motivated the workers in these 20 occupations really are.
Curious how many total workers are employed in the Top and Bottom 20 jobs? Here is the answer:
What may be more surprising is that while there are 8 times as many workers in the worst paid bucket as best-paid, the total compensation paid to these two extreme groups is virtually identical.
Moral of the story: Don't become a line cook, kids, unless of course when one adds up all the welfare and insolvent state benefits provided to line cooks, the after tax cash flow matches or beats that of anesthesiologists.
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Tool and die guys made a nice living back when the US actually made things. I expect that's another extinct profession in this country.
Still around, but highly specialized and mostly aerospace/.mil/precision apps. I have an acquaintance that's still earning a very respectible living while retired turning out a part a week or so in his garage with insane specs (1/10,000th inch) for satellites.
certainly the squeegee guy at the peep show has a worse job than fast food cooks!
My friend's dad had a heart attack and died in a peep show booth. To make matters worse, at his funeral it was revealed that he had a second family: wife, kids, etc. that my friend and her family knew nothing about.
God Bless Amerika!
My mom's 2nd step dad impregnated a hooker 3 months before marrying my grandmother.
The ol Estes family is pretty F-ed up like that.
A neighbor of mine died while at his son's stag party weekend vacation. Unusual but true.
He really had his hands full.
Squeezee guy at the peep show..,, gives a whole new meaning to short order
yup ... another reason to stay away from those fast-food joints ... 3 million minimum-wage workers likely to don't give shit what goes into them food ...
Breaking News: There are more waiters in the United States than there are facial surgeons. More on this shocking development at 11!
hankwil74 Breaking News: There are more waiters in the United States than there are facial surgeons. More on this shocking development at 11!
----
I certainly hope there are more waiters then facial surgeons. If not, we have another problem.
differential should be even greater - the top paying jobs take 10-12 years of concentrated effort to achieve while the bottom ones take 10-12 minutes (max) to learn...
+1. This article is cute... but it panders the same "binary outcome" concerns that is fueling the college debt bubble. For shame.
At the same time it misses the point of how the breakeven is somewhere around $55k on average to even have a job.
It misses the demographic issues relative to age of workers.
It misses the skew in the upper few percent - particularly the top 1% which is completely fucked up when one considers the bulk of that wealth is based on perpetuating fraud.
Etc.
College is the biggest waste of money going. "Lesbian Cultural Studies degree from Berkley? Wow, impressive!!!! Take cab #6 and don't forget to punch in"
College is what you make of it. Going to a private university to get a degree in music is moronic. Going to a year or two of community followed by 2 years at a state university followed by more schooling at a state school to get one's medical degree is not foolish.
Unless, of course, you want to get your medical advice done by someone who didn't go to college.
A surgeon told me they are a lot like wood workers. I bet i could get Norm Abram to stop by (slip him a couple hundos/dirty magazines) if my wrist snaps or an ankle blows out... nothing a drill/driver and some stainless steel screws can't fix...maybe a little sheet metal and of course a bottle of Jack.. Can you imagine what surgery was like a few 100 years ago? I wouldn't doubt that returns when this whole fucking country collapses.
"don't forget to munch in"
I can see you have never tried to pick fruit.
So the anesthesiologist who killed a coworker in mid January due to a "mistake" was getting 235k/year to do so?
Not bad. Bet Dr. Mengele didn't earn that much.
So politicians have a different category ?
Yeah, they didn't list "sociopath".
Corporate psychopaths
"I am Fishhead: Are Corporate Leaders Psychpaths?"
http://youtu.be/Jxq7hiHi1cE
The 'blowjob' category is always eliminated from data because the compensation can vary widely depending on who is blowing whom.
If there was a blowjob category, are there sub-categories of swallow vs spit ? Or is it more on the line of blowjob, take it in the ass, dress up and splank me type categories ?
I can see some of them in all 3, and compensated accordingly.
Adam Smith .. Division of Labor Bitches
There's one in every car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mxs6A1byIo
"... you'll see."
Miller: A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidences and things. They don't realize that there's this like lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything. I'll give you an example, show you what I mean. Suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly somebody will say like plate or shrimp or plate of shrimp out of the blue no explanation. No point in looking for one either. It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness.
Otto: You eat a lot of acid Miller, back in the hippie days?
Miller: I'll give you another instance. You know the way everybody's into weirdness right now. Books in all the supermarkets about Bermuda triangles,UFO's, how the Mayans invented television. That kind of thing.
Otto: I don't read them books.
Miller: Well the way I see it it's exactly the same. There ain't no difference between a flying saucer and a time machine. People get so hung up on specifics. They miss out on seeing the whole thing. Take South America for example. In South America thousands of people go missing every year. Nobody knows where they go. They just like disappear. But if you think about it for a minute, you realize something. There had to be a time when there was no people. Right?
Otto: Yeah. I guess.
Miller: Well where did all these people come from? hmmm? I'll tell you where. The future. Where did all these people disappear to? hmmm?
Otto: The past?
Miller: That's right and how did they get there?
Otto: How the fuck (hell) do I know?
Miller: Flying saucers. Which are really? Yeah you got it. Time machines. I think a lot about this kind of stuff. I do my best thinking on the bus. That how come I don't drive, see?
Otto: You don't even know how to drive.
Miller: I don't want to know how. I don't want to learn. See? The more you drive, the less intelligent you are
The doctor class will soon see how little Obamacare values them. Enjoy the boom while it lasts.
Which is one of the few good things about Obamacare? It will screw doctors? Of course, insurance company management is no better.
Shampooers? They should double as ball wash attendents, their income would be in the six figures then.
I think many on this list are not correct. Gaming dealers in my area are making 40k - 70k, easily, even in this economy.
I would love to see how far the net is cast to get to these #'s.
Is a chief executive anyone with a corprate filing? They had to have bent over backwards to get the comp that low. Now that I mention it, every Doctor I know is an LLC of some type.
Does it include CA prison Dentists? Because none of them make that small of a wage.
It is doubtful that they included anyone paid by a .gov.
It's just another Bruce Krastings (sp) like article about how the top 1% isn't really that wealthy because (goolLEE) look at their "salaries".
As people said above, where is the unearn income, the off-shore-accounts, the banksters, the politicians.
Only fools are payed in salaries. The smart-n-savvy don't get "salaries".
A million problems with this data, not the least of which is compensation outside of wages, the problem of relying on government reimbursement for services (all the doctors), professions that limited by high entrance bars (again, all the doctors), and limited/inaccurate data for the self-employed.
Let's not confuse the knee-jerk reactionary OWS honkeys with facts, now.
Shampooers? Nice. 'Scuse me while I retch.
Excuse you - the correct term is Shampoo Technician. Requires a license to be a Shampoo Technician in Texas.
But the good news is you only need a permit from the Texas Department of Cosmetology to be a Shampoo Apprentice
.
"the total compensation paid to these two extreme groups is virtually identical."
Just had a great idea. Tell Column B that all of their problems can be blamed on Column A. Then, while they are fighting it out, you can rob them both. Oh wait...
What happened to assembling toothbrushes from parts produced in bangladesh? There's a future in that field...
They left out all the jobs I've worked...I can say with utter certainty none of MY jobs were any better paid than the bottom 20
hey i didn't see
SOCK TUCKERS
COKE STACKERS
CORK SOAKERS
CORK SOCKERS
I love it when places like this post studies and expect us to be SHOCKED and OUTRAGED that there are a lot more people working as cashiers than there are working as surgeons.
In other news, water remains wet. Good day.
Medicine scam. Adds nothing to the economy except a total drain. Most of this "science" is complete garbage spewed out by the liars and criminals of big pharma. 3rd world doctors charge 1/10 the price and have better treatments. Nothing but a gigantic Rockefellar scam. Killing people with poisons, radiation, and drugs. Doctors who do harm: Hippocrates!
Silver For The People
I'll just go ahead and assume when sick or injured you take care of yourself and don't seek attention from the scammers. We breathlessly await your confirmation.
Where are Banksters, Politicians, Judges, High Ra(n)king Police, City/County Council staff, Gov workers?
Where are Hookers, Call Girls, Escorts, Pimps? Agricultural & Farm workers?
Kirk, they are laughing all the way to the bank and/or to the local kosher mafia head.
Interesting that MOST of the highest paid jobs are in the medical industry.
That would be you (very expensive to the end user) health care that the wealthy want you to keep!
So it turns out that the state is actually more efficient in administering health care - as Britain demonstrates where the highest earners are not private healthcare workers.
Way to go shooting yourselves in the foot for some weedy attempt at claiming 'freedom'!
If only all the ATMs didn't take all our good payin' jobs!
Every one of the top ten are in "health" care. This is why sick care is so expensive. Everyone is gaming the system and ripping off the consumer. Hospitals, doctors, nurses, med schools, everybody.
Such trenchant analysis. Please educate yourself regarding supply and demand.
Please educate yourself about the art of controlling supply so as to artificially raise prices.
So you're arguing that there are too few physicians (you know, supply control)and thus inflating wages. So you're arguing we need more physicians to limit their wages. I'll bet that .gov's steady decline in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements will take care of that. Oh wait. That means the number of physicians will decline. Oh, and they are. If you get your way, the inexorable result will be that you won't be seeing physicians. And that means they won't be around to earn those scandalous wages. Consider yourself educated.
I currently have a 'best paying job'. to get there I had a LOT of 'worst paying jobs'.
I also did jobs that did not even make the 'worst' list like odd jobs (painting, janitoring, caddy).
To make sense of these facts you really need to know if these are the 'final' employment plateau or just a stepping stone while improving one's position.
caddying for asian golfer lady would be coo
Both the surgeons and waiters are voting for more waiters
Presumably the job of 'body man to POTUS' falls somewhere between oral surgeon and shampooer
Ahhh, its the BAD BAD DOCTORS now?
Because they do not read this, instead of that they are saving people's lives an work like war horses?
And no American Hero Soldiers without legs or hands and on antidepressants here? Probably not the best job choice.
/sarc
I tried to search Federal Employee pay. Specifically GS-12 and above, and the Senior Executive Service (SES) compensation. Talking about some bullshit that is hidden deep in the OPM.gov website, if at all. I'd like to know their pay and how many employees there are in the higher ranks.
A tax payer should be able to pull this up with no problem. In the 1960's Washington DC was a small, modest city of mostly lower paid civil servants. Now, I believe, 6 or 7 the top 10 (not verified) wealthiest US counties suround DC. All from the taxpayers, bloated government, lobbyists and fat contractors.
They hide it in the farm payroll to make it seem like they aren't overpaid.
All except for Prince George's County, Maryland. You can check the wiki on that to find out why. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George%27s_County,_MD#Demographics
Even all that government money just POURING in...and they don't take advantage of it.
Housing prices in some areas of PG county are at Baltimore levels (for the exact same reasons).
How much liability insurance does a line cook pay vs a doctor?
Natural Science Manager?
Take all government subsidies out of the equations (Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start...etc) and the medical positions drop off the map. These earnings rates (medical based positions) are totally hollow and not sustainable.
Of course they are. Like lawyers, medical professions enjoy government enforced scarcity.
I heard Cuba has an interesting regulatory model that is great at keeping medical expenses and salaries in check by letting government dictate what everything costs and what medical professionals get paid. About that ACA...
The fluffers should be proud. They no longer have the suckiest job in 'Murka, not even in the bottom 20. Movin on up.
the numbers are bs a little, the liability insurance is allot higher for some fields and you get your ass suied off.
duh....
When I look at the two lists all I see are service industry jobs. Nobody producing anything of value.
Now check the numbers. In the best 20 categories only two exceed a quarter million persons, and even then just barely.
In the bottom 20 categories all but seven exceed a quarter million, many of them greatly.
None are skilled jobs that require more than a week of training, though there is some argument for experience speeding things up a bit and increasing quality.
Hmm.
May want to check out the publicly available University of Michigan "research" pay scales.
They have "administrators" and "researchers" making $200K + 2for1 matching 403K + fantastic medical benefits.
All for shuffling papers and writing reports that nobody reads.
And yes it is all paid for by our tax money because after all, it's a government job.
Just sayin
Best paying job is internet trolling for one of the fine political machines in Amerikan't. Hardest part is telling the difference in talking points. It's all war and steal.
Golly Wally. I wonder why health care is so expensive? And, um, did you see that guy at the Dairy Queen? He looked sick and when he sneezed green came out and popped and sizzled on the Brazier Burger grill. Why don't he go to the doctor?
Well, Beav, If all the sick people got well then there'd be nothing to do for the doctors.
Wally, I've got a stomach ache.
That's good Beav.
When you consider which ----of all our human bean priorities-----is THE most important, numero uno, the Big Banana:
What else can it be but, our Health?
Without good health, preferably great health, having poor health nothing else is going to be enjoyable, or even ever experienced.
Therefore, in the inevitable logic of nature, it SHOULD BE the thing we spend the most money on, if our resources are to go to the most important of our own.
While I would like to have had my dental implant paid for by the rest of you, or by the FED with newly printed FRNs, I did not hesitate to pay for it myself, taking down over $1,000 from savings to pay for the first stage yesterday.
Having a dozen times nearly swallowed the removable bridge, with two replaced side by side key molars, I calculated that one day my larynx, palate, and upper respiratory tract could be permanenty damaged and blood spilled all over the place, if I swallowed it, an implant is the only practical solution, other than eating oatmeal for the rest or my 5 score and 10.
So too, should other health matters rise to the top importance in our daily life.
The idea that I should have been able to use that $1,000 for something other than this, a new PC, some utility bills, a few car payments, food, beer, twinkies, or some other necessity is suspect when I then ask you, thru my health insurance from the 'government' (you) to underwrite my living expenses.
Granted, it has swung too too far to the expensive side of living, but the argument should be not about an eventual single payer health insurance policy but what we who will be taxed for it, should absorb of the other's health expenses, and what we should be responsible for paying for ourselves. My thought is that I don't want to pay for your dental implants, regardless of the danger not having them represents to you, nor do I want you to pay for mine. I have saved money to pay for my implants by forgoing other things in my life. And I expect that if you want (or need) them, you should too.
Count de' OilofOley!
Thanks for the civil discussion. I ABSOLUTELY would pay for your dental implants. If I could simply designate that the $1000 came out of my tax, directed to your dentist and NOT to destabilizing another country.
One less Depleted Uranium Tank Round would pay for all your deductables for the rest of your life.
Those that get people the highest without killing them are the best compensated. Kool!
I heartily recommend some Dale's Pale Ale, buy a twelve-pack in the cans. Make it two. 24 cans, 24 hours. Stephen Wright said it first.
If you want to be a surgeon, be a surgeon.
If you want to be a rocket scientist, emigrate to Russia or to Vandenberg.
If you want to walk on water, good luck to ya.
In any event, buy some good beer and drink it all.
Bamboo, fuckin' a.
Too late for most of us to care. Fait accompli.
'Murika, where everyone's standing in line for a cut of your paycheck.
Cuz, why work when someone else can do it for you? Nickel & Dime society of whores.
Can't burn fast enough. Fuck Ayn Rand, but I'm just about to go Galt on this bitch-ass-ghetto society.
(fy this post is going to cost you a 1% communications fee. My brain-product isn't free, bitch. paypal me)
Did we mention Federal Employment or is that too sensitive?
Please re-do that "20 best jobs" graph factoring in the $300k of debt required to get through a surgical residency alive.