10 worst jobs

[Archbob]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41004581

This doesn't surprise me much. I'd expect most of these jobs to be there. The only one that I was surprised at was EMT technician. I figured they would get payed more.

Pretty much all of these are blue-collar jobs that don't require a college degree and most of them will suffer due to people simply being out competed by robots in the coming days.

 

[Left]

being out competed by robots in the coming days

I don't think any of those are going to go away anytime soon, unless you know something about robots that I don't. Robot cab driver? Robot construction worker? Robot lumberjack?

 

[Archbob]

I don't think any of those are going to go away anytime soon, unless you know something about robots that I don't. Robot cab driver? Robot construction worker? Robot lumberjack?

Many activities in the lumberjack field are being automated. This is true in many of the listed construction professions also. Automated is going to take a serious hit on many of the listed professions.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Robot cab driver?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driverless_car

I guess they could lock the doors so the people cant get out until they pay money

edit: Or calculate it ahead of time and refuse to move if the person doesnt pay up

 

[.Shane.]

This thread brings to mind of the funniest things Norm MacDonald ever did on SNL.

1996

Well, the magazine P.O.V. came out this week, with a list of the best and worst jobs to have in the next century. The three best were, in this order: Multimedia Software Designer, Management Consultant, and Interactive Advertising Executive; while their worst, for the third year in a row: Crack Whore.

later in the same episode he was handed a sheet of paper, ala "this just in"

Correction to the story earlier: The actual worst job is Assistant Crack Whore."

1997

Finally, according to the U.S. News & World Report 1997 Career Guide, the bet job in the United States, for the second year in a row, is Interactive Business System Analyst. However, last year's worst job, Assistant Crack Whore, has been replaced by a new worst job: Crack Whore Trainee.

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More OT: I can't belive EMT's make so little!

 

[Left]

Many activities in the lumberjack field are being automated. This is true in many of the listed construction professions also. Automated is going to take a serious hit on many of the listed professions.

Your going to have to define "in the coming days". Its going to be a while before that automation becomes big enough to signifgantly impact timber industry jobs more than it has already - and most of that job loss in the industry doesn't have much to do with automation.

Its going to be a long, long time before we have teams of robot roofers.

 

[Cheetah]

Meter reader is an actual job?!

I'm not sure I like the idea of having EMTs on such a list though...

And finally, I notice that most of these jobs are related to construction and real estate, and after the market picks up again, may climb a few places on such a list. Thus, being replaced with some other, more permanent worst jobs perhaps.

 

[Archbob]

Meter reader is an actual job?!

Someone has to read the meters. Of course, robots will soon outcompete humans for this job.

 

[.Shane.]

Meter reader is an actual job?!

Its on the wane. We recently had a smart reader put in, which transmits meter data directly.

 

[Cheetah]

Well, I knew someone had to do it from time to time, but I always figured it was a small part of the job of electricians working for power companies or the like, if it existed at all.

I mean, the job itself takes what, 8 seconds or so? Private homes read their own meters and report it every quarter anyway, and I believe janitors do it for public and corporate buildings. I'm not really sure where one would need a specialist - if one can use that term here - to do this task at all.

 

[Archbob]

I'm really surprised how little EMT Technicians get paid. Its all the stress of a doctor for a $30,000 paycheck.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm really surprised how little EMT Technicians get paid. Its all the stress of a doctor for a $30,000 paycheck.

I think they should get paid more.

 

[.Shane.]

Well, I knew someone had to do it from time to time, but I always figured it was a small part of the job of electricians working for power companies or the like.

I mean, the job itself takes what, 8 seconds or so? Private homes read their own meters and report it every quarter anyway, and I believe janitors do it for larger buildings.

I'm sure it varies from place to place in the US, but where I've lived it was a set job. Someone had a "beat" and would read the meters. Now, yeah, maybe they had other duties, but I always got the impression that was their main job.

I'm sure for plants, large buildings, etc... it was handled differently.

 

[Zelig]

I don't go through slideshows on the internet, do you have a link for the article in a reasonable format?

 

[Archbob]

Sorry, CNBC has to do these things to make them more dramatic I think.

 

[El_Machinae]

You know, it might be time to reconsider how we run society and allow economics its rein. If the risk to wealth IS "robots learn to do your job", then there's a serious problem. I dunno 'bout you, but robots are supposed to increase our wealth, not decrease it.

Seriously, there's not very far to go, technologically, before most jobs are going to be replaceable. Unless one has a different vision for what's technologically possible.

 

[Archbob]

You know, it might be time to reconsider how we run society and allow economics its rein. If the risk to wealth IS "robots learn to do your job", then there's a serious problem. I dunno 'bout you, but robots are supposed to increase our wealth, not decrease it.

Seriously, there's not very far to go, technologically, before most jobs are going to be replaceable. Unless one has a different vision for what's technologically possible.

Jobs that involve critical think and reasoning skills and human interactions are hard to replace with robots. And besides someone has to build those robots -- and that creates jobs -- ones that pay better than the jobs robots replace.

Manual labor jobs, fast food, and perhaps retail are the ones that stand to be effected by it the most.

 

[Skwink]

What about a Marine? Training is a little rough, and no one like getting shot or hit by a IED.

On Robots: In the future some states may refuse to uses robots as slaves, and others would still use slave robots. This would lead to a second Civil War, and a Emancipation Proclamation for all robots in the US. For many more years though, they will be segregated for the Humans. Later, a robot will come along to help them protest this cruel treatment, and earn the Robot Race true freedom.

 

[El_Machinae]

"Hard" doesn't mean what you think it means. Once it's done, it's done. Once it's cheaper to create a robot that can critically think better than a human, then the human's marketability is zilch.

Importantly, if people are poor and have no value that cannot be replaced by a robot, what makes you think we're going to value the skill to 'interact with humans'?

Seriously, the problem is a lot more scary than people think. It's not just 'who can build robots get paid'. You know why? Because if we both can build robots than can build robots, our original patent isn't worth anything.

It doesn't matter how hard the problem of AI is, because it's a solvable problem. And, at that point, even the ability to create robots is not a marketable skill, because robots-that-can-design-robots will be on the market and the original patent will be outcompeted and valueless. Or, I guess, as valuable as the current patent for building a horsecart is when people want cars.

It's "not what careers will be affected most". It's "what careers will be affected first?"

 

[Archbob]

Well, someone predicted that humans and Robots would be one within a few hundred years.