Best Jobs Not Behind a Desk: Updated

This is an update to a book I wrote a few years back for JIST Publishing, featuring occupations that do not chain you to a desk. If you want to avoid the Dilbert style of work, you may want to consider one of the occupations on the list that follows.

If you're a bit antsy by nature, nonsedentary work may be a better fit for your energy level, and it probably will be better for your health. Researchers have linked desk jobs to increased incidence of back pain, eyestrain, obesity, and even colon cancer. One Australian study found that men who sit at their desks for more than six hours per day were almost twice as likely to be obese as men who sit for less than 45 minutes. An American study found that women who worked at a sedentary job for 14 years gained 20 pounds more than women who worked in the least sedentary jobs.

First, let me explain how I created this list. The O*NET database, created and maintained for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rates about 1,000 occupations on the level of "general physical activity" that they require, using a scale that ranges from zero to 7. The O*NET also rates every occupation on how much sitting it requires, again using the zero-to-7 scale, so I subtracted this rating from 7 to obtain a rating for how much the occupation allows not sitting. Then I calculated the average of the two ratings--general physical activity and not sitting--and expressed this combined rating on a scale ranging from zero to 100. This is the "Activity Level" measure in the following list. Using this measure, I sorted all occupations for which I had a full set of data and eliminated those that make up the bottom half of the distribution--the 280 most sedentary occupations. The 280 remaining occupations offer at least a moderate amount of moving around.

Next, following the procedure I used in the Best Jobs series of books, I sorted these non-desk-bound occupations three times, using economic information I obtained from the BLS: annual earnings (based on May 2013 estimates), projected growth from 2010 to 2020, and projected annual openings over this same decade. Finally, I summed these three rankings to generate one overall ranking. Occupations with the best combination of economic rewards are to be found closest to the top of the list. Note that adjacent occupations often have only small differences in their overall scores, so a difference of a few places on the list usually is not very significant. Also understand that the earnings figures are national averages, and actual earnings vary by location, specialization, and other factors.

I think you'll agree that the following list covers a wide variety of occupations, with something for almost every interest except maybe the most bookish pursuits:

Rank	Occupation	Activity Level	Annual Earnings	Growth 2010- 20	Annual Openings
1	Physical Therapists	65.7	$81,030	36.0%	12,370
2	Registered Nurses	54.3	$66,220	19.4%	105,260
3	Nurse Practitioners	52.9	$92,670	33.7%	5,850
4	Physician Assistants	55.7	$92,970	38.4%	4,890
5	First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	61.4	$60,380	23.5%	18,710
6	Occupational Therapists	55.7	$76,940	29.0%	4,820
7	Physical Therapist Assistants	61.4	$53,360	41.0%	4,510
8	Electricians	72.9	$50,510	19.7%	22,460
9	Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters	74.3	$50,180	21.3%	13,050
10	Radiologic Technologists	64.3	$55,200	20.8%	6,960
11	Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses	61.4	$41,920	24.8%	36,310
12	Surgeons	60.0	$187,200	23.2%	2,310
13	Occupational Therapy Assistants	61.4	$55,270	42.6%	2,050
14	Carpenters	77.1	$40,500	24.2%	32,920
15	Industrial Machinery Mechanics	72.9	$47,910	18.9%	15,250
16	Respiratory Therapists	60.0	$56,290	19.1%	4,010
17	Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers	71.4	$43,880	20.9%	12,370
18	Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians	61.4	$53,210	30.4%	2,300
19	Brickmasons and Blockmasons	82.9	$46,610	35.5%	3,280
20	Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators	54.3	$42,540	18.9%	14,440
21	First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers	57.1	$61,220	7.8%	15,200
22	Surgical Technologists	62.9	$42,720	29.8%	3,910
23	Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers	55.7	$91,920	15.8%	1,730
24	Veterinarians	62.9	$86,640	12.0%	3,100
25	Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education	54.3	$50,230	13.0%	6,510
26	Structural Iron and Steel Workers	80.0	$46,520	21.8%	3,150
27	Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels	61.4	$69,920	13.8%	2,130
28	Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers	58.6	$56,130	5.9%	24,390
29	Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers	74.3	$64,170	8.9%	4,990
30	Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers	75.7	$36,130	29.1%	5,720
31	Service Unit Operators, Oil, Gas, and Mining	77.1	$42,790	20.9%	3,640
32	Elevator Installers and Repairers	80.0	$78,640	24.6%	800
33	Radiation Therapists	62.9	$79,140	23.5%	840
34	Construction and Building Inspectors	61.4	$54,450	12.2%	3,670
35	Sheet Metal Workers	72.9	$43,890	15.5%	4,890
36	Insulation Workers, Mechanical	75.7	$40,500	46.7%	1,730
37	Chiropractors	67.1	$65,300	14.6%	1,520
38	Construction Laborers	77.1	$30,460	24.3%	48,910
39	Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other	60.0	$48,610	17.1%	2,280
40	Painters, Construction and Maintenance	61.4	$35,390	19.8%	11,050
41	Medical Assistants	54.3	$29,610	29.0%	26,990
42	Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas	78.6	$51,570	18.6%	1,540
43	Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	54.3	$46,510	27.6%	1,350
44	Nuclear Medicine Technologists	54.3	$71,120	20.2%	720
45	Massage Therapists	65.7	$35,920	22.6%	4,410
46	Vocational Education Teachers, Postsecondary	54.3	$48,300	11.8%	3,660
47	First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers	68.6	$42,570	12.7%	4,990
48	First-Line Supervisors of Fire Fighting and Prevention Workers	72.9	$70,040	6.3%	3,050
49	Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics	65.7	$31,270	23.1%	12,060
50	Millwrights	77.1	$50,030	18.4%	1,340

Recovery from Recession: Comparing States

The nation's recovery from the Great Recession is proving to be uneven, with some states still stuck in the downturn and others bouncing back. I used figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released only two weeks ago to see how states compared. The maps below show what I found.

I created two maps, one that looks at the increase in average wage across occupations and the other that looks at the increase in total workforce size:

The outstanding state obviously is North Dakota, where the petroleum boom is lifting both wages and employment by high percentage figures (11.2 percent and 13.8 percent).

Some states show very difference performances on the two maps. For example, Colorado's workforce increased by a healthy 5.3 percent, but its average wage increased by only 1.2 percent. In other words, most of the jobs it gained were low-wage jobs. (Three Sunbelt states--California, Arizona, and Florida--experienced similar lopsided gains.) By contrast, West Virginia's workforce expanded by only 1.3 percent, but its wages gained by a substantial 3.8 percent. Perhaps the small size and low population density of this state contributed to this phenomenon (and similar results in Vermont); to expand the workforce even by a small amount, employers had to jack up wages more than was necessary in more crowded states.

My state, New Jersey, bears the shame of posting less than 2 percent gains on both measures. We Garden Staters share this dubious distinction with New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

New Wage Figures Reveal Trends of the Past Two Years

The BLS has just released the May 2013 estimates for wages in 800+ occupations. I thought it would be interesting to see which occupations showed the greatest and smallest increases in pay compared to previous years.

I decided that the best way to smooth out errors and focus on large trends would be to look at groups of occupations rather than detailed occupations and to look at the difference over two years rather than one year.

Here’s what I found:

Occupational Group	May 2011	May  2013	Change
Healthcare Support Occupations	$25,140	$26,080	3.7%
Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$75,080	$77,860	3.7%
Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$72,070	$74,530	3.4%
Business and Financial Operations Occupations	$61,700	$63,800	3.4%
Management Occupations	$92,880	$95,600	2.9%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$59,570	$61,120	2.6%
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$59,330	$60,860	2.6%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	$31,250	$32,010	2.4%
Community and Social Service Occupations	$39,880	$40,810	2.3%
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	$43,640	$44,610	2.2%
Construction and Extraction Occupations	$39,820	$40,670	2.1%
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	$40,600	$41,440	2.1%
Production Occupations	$30,670	$31,250	1.9%
All Occupations	$34,460	$35,080	1.8%
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations	$22,620	$22,970	1.5%
Personal Care and Service Occupations	$20,730	$21,010	1.4%
Sales and Related Occupations	$24,840	$25,160	1.3%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$28,760	$29,100	1.2%
Legal Occupations	$75,470	$76,100	0.8%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	$18,900	$19,020	0.6%
Education, Training, and Library Occupations	$46,060	$46,140	0.2%
Protective Service Occupations	$36,740	$36,770	0.1%
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations	$19,460	$19,380	-0.4%
Teachers, Postsecondary	$64,592	$62,920	-2.6%

Perhaps the most powerful takeaway from this table is that wages are growing fastest among the STEM occupations—science, technology, engineering, and math.

Some occupations that will account for numerous job openings—notably the Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations; the Personal Care and Service Occupations; and the Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations—have experience slower-than-average wage growth. Yesterday’s Senate defeat of the bill to raise the minimum wage—a disgraceful defiance of overwhelming popular support—only reinforces this trend.

It’s interesting to note that three groups of blue-collar occupations have experienced slightly faster-than-average wage growth: Construction and Extraction Occupations; Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations; and Production Occupations. These occupations require higher levels of skill than the wage-stagnant occupations in the previous paragraph. Production Occupations, in particular, have seen increased skill requirements as the low-skill workers in this field have been replaced by either robots or offshore workers.

Yes, but what about Postsecondary Teachers? Surely they require high levels of skill, not to mention high-level educational credentials, yet their wages actually lost ground over this two-year period. This downturn in annual wages reflects the fact that colleges and universities are increasingly using adjunct teachers. These temporary or part-time workers are paid on a different scale from tenured or permanent faculty.