Actually, Actuaries Have It Best--Unless You Ask the Others

Actuaries and computer programmers may not have the most glamorous jobs, but they may have the best jobs.

The newly released “Jobs Rated Almanac” named the actuary profession as the best job among 250 rated positions--surprising even those actuaries who say they love their jobs. Computer programmers were No. 2.

“Not too many people think of an actuary when they think of a great job. Actuary sounds like mortuary,” said actuary Larry Helmke, who is a principal at Towers Perrin Forster & Crosby, an actuarial and benefits consulting firm in Newport Beach.

‘Without Personality’

“Some people think of an actuary as an accountant without personality,” Helmke said.

Actuaries--whose duties include interpreting statistics for insurance companies to determine expected personal losses from sickness or disability--ranked No. 1 overall, based on the almanac’s six criteria. The criteria included salary, stress, work environment, outlook, security and physical demands.

Also in the top 10 were physicists, astronomers and hospital administrators.

Migrant farm work was the worst job in America, rating at or near the bottom of all six categories. Second worst was commercial fishing, ranked low because of long hours, seasonal work and tough physical demands.

Astronauts have the worst working environment, with surgeons second. Firefighters have the longest workweeks, and their jobs are the most stressful and physically demanding, according to the book.

But even the almanac’s highest-rated positions have their drawbacks. For example, hospital administrators ranked as the sixth-best profession, but those positions can be highly stressful, said Michael Stephens, president of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.

“Historically it has been a very secure profession. But recently more hospitals have become insolvent,” said Stephens, who still described his job as one of the best possible.

And some workers engaged in occupations at the low end of the scale wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Catching fish is one of the best jobs I can think of,” said Tony Barcott, 73, who has fished commercially in Southern California for more than 50 years.

‘Feel Just Like a Kid’

“I don’t know how you could knock it. I feel just like a kid because for all those years I ate good fish, I was in the fresh air and I went off to Alaska and Mexico.”

Joy Chappelle, a nurse’s aide at Hoag, disagreed with the almanac’s low ranking for her profession, which was rated one of the 10 least attractive.

“I’m not surprised because there are a lot of drawbacks and a lot of turnover, but I walk out of here many days feeling so satisfied by my work that I’d call it one of the best jobs imaginable,” said Chappelle, 54, who has worked at the hospital for seven years.