Here's what I wrote to the reporter:
Dear Ms. Needleman:
I enjoyed your article "Doing the Math to Find Good Jobs" in which you
report about the new job ranking site that uses statistics and a
mathematical algorithm to calculate that the best three jobs are
statistician, actuary, and mathematician.
I am sure that the people who developed this formula were happy that their
own career choices were validated. Thank you for showing the other side of
the story with your interviews with two people whose jobs, though they dwell
at the bottom of the list, seem to be providing great satisfaction.
I am sure that many workers, like the dairy farmers, seamen, and welders who
are ranked among the bottom, would agree that the scoring criteria used by
the website favors a total (and unhealthy) lack of physical activity and
sunlight.
"Welder" appears as number eight on the "10 Worst Jobs" list. America's
welders are passionate about the fulfillment they receive as major players
in our progress toward energy independence and rebuilding of our aging
infrastructure. Their work is artistic and satisfying. The modern welding
environment, aided by computer-assisted equipment, automation, and high-tech
air filtration, has nothing in common with the outdated image of this
profession.
The list also underestimates the income and job outlook for welders. An
article in your own paper, "Where Have All the Welders Gone?"
(
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1531490511822.html), refers to Labor
Department statistics that show a 10% decline in the number of welders from
2000 to 2005, which has led to the forecast of a 200,000-welder shortage in
the U.S. by next year. As an employer told the WSJ, "We need welders like a
starving person needs food."
Demographics are driving this shortage. The average age of a welder in the
U.S. is now in the mid-fifties, and they are retiring faster than new
workers are entering the welding profession.
This critical shortage is occurring just as the country prepares to pump
billions of dollars into infrastructure projects that will require tens of
thousands of skilled welders.
There is an interesting story to be told about specific career categories,
like welding, that will be the first beneficiaries of the upcoming economic
stimulus program.
A recent CBS Evening News story portrayed a stockbroker who changed his
career to welding and is thriving in the nuclear power plant industry
(
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/21/eveningnews/main4537720.shtml),
which is providing welders with six-figure incomes.
Again, I enjoyed your article and I appreciate the balance you provided, but
a list that places welding near the bottom of a career ranking is doing a
disservice to anyone who wants the real story about opportunities in
welding. Please let me know if you would like to speak to welders who can
tell you how rewarding this career is.
You can also hear first-hand what three young welders have to say about
their careers in a short video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eRVqfO1o8wRoss Hancock
Director, Marketing Communications
American Welding Society