Turns out to be fracking - working on a drilling rig, per a new survey from CareerCast report. Plus there is the issue of actually hiring Americans to do the work of exporting gas to China.
No. 1 worst: Roustabout/roughneck
Charlie Neibergall / AP
Job description: Performs routine physical labor and maintenance on oil rigs and pipelines, both on and offshore.
Verdict: This job makes its second straight appearance at the top of the worst list. The demanding, dangerous work is what gets the gig its crummy distinction.
“Roustabouts routinely perform backbreaking labor at all hours of the day and night in conditions that can range from arctic winters to desert summers to ocean storms,” the CareerCast jobs report found. “Braving these inhospitable surroundings, roustabouts work on the front lines, getting hands-on with dangerous drilling equipment and risking serious injury or worse — as last year’s explosion at the Deepwater Horizon facility in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates.”
About 60,000 individuals hold such jobs, which typically require little advanced education. Wyoming has the most roustabouts, but Alaska pays the best. Midlevel income for this job averages $32,123, according to CareerCast, but Willis said depending on experience and what they do, roughnecks can make as much as $60,000. Unfortunately job prospects going forward are lousy with a jobless rate upwards of 14 percent.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
is guess what
“Braving these inhospitable surroundings, roustabouts work on the front lines, getting hands-on with dangerous drilling equipment and risking serious injury or worse…..”
not to mention daily up close and personal exposure to all those fracking chemicals, silica sand and who knows what else. Meanwhile, whatever is on their clothes and shoes is transfered to their vehicles, brought home and passed on to their kids…..
Anyone who wants to pursue this further should read: “Disposable Workers of the Gas and Oil Fields”
[If you don’t have a college degree, it’s the best job in the West. Unless you die, unnoticed]
Ray Ring. High Country News. April 2, 2007
URL: http://www.hcn.org/issues/343/16915
This is an article that will punch you in the gut and this was before the big ramp up in gas drilling in the Eastern states. The comment line is still open with the last ones coming in from Pennsylvania. This article only deals with injuries and fatalities. Because of the high contact these workers have with toxic materials, it wouldn’t surprise me if their long term health profile looked similar to those of the Vietnam Vets who were exposed to Agent Orange. I have no professional expertise in this area so this is pure speculation on my part, but I look at both of these groups as collateral damage: one of a reckless foreign policy and the other of a reckless energy policy.