Lowest Paying Highest Anxiety Jobs
Anyone on low pay is anxious in the current economic climate. In many countries, such as the U.K, austerity measures are making poor people even poorer. Though unemployment figures are falling, the statistics hide the fact that more people are accepting part time and temporary jobs and short-term contracts, because full-time or permanent positions are very scarce indeed. Job seekers are taking any work that they can find. However, there aremanylow paid jobs, whereanxietyand stress are always part of the day.
Dairy Farmers may love their cows and their work outside, and city dwellers fondly imagine that a dairy farmer’s life must be idyllic. However, small dairy farmers, caught between the huge agri-businesses and the supermarkets, are having a hard time to get more money for their milk than it costs to produce. Cows cannot tell the time and their needs do not fit in to a cozy nine-to-five. Dairy farmers get up at silly o’clock, to tend their cows, and work long into the evening, seven days a week. Cows still need feeding, mucking out, milking and general care, whatever the weather.
Weather, in many countries, has not been kind to farmers for the past eighteen months. In the United Kingdom, record rainfall levels have meant flooded fields and low grass yield and this means cows being indoors much more than usual, which means the farmer must buy food for them. During the same period, animal feed prices have been rising rapidly. Many dairy farmers are so poor that they qualify for means-tested state benefits. If all that does not cause enough anxiety and stress,agricultureis a dangerous industry. The United Kingdom’sHealth and Safety Executivereports that, although only 1.5% of Britain’s workforce works inagriculture, agricultural workers suffer 15-20% of the fatal accidents to British workers annually. Livestock are sometimes unpredictable as are farm vehicles, machinery, hay bales. Farmers can also catch diseases from their animals.
At the difficult moments in people’s lives, they expect the caring professions to be there for them.Nursing assistantsassist qualified nurses with patient care;theyfetch and carry, assisting patients with bathing, personal care, walking and eating and observe and care for patients as well as a myriad other jobs and tasks. They may work in hospitals, care homes, or other medical facilities under medical and nursing staff direction. For all that trained nursing or health care assistants do, they are not well paid. Iin the United States nursing assistants earn between 18,060 and 35,000 US dollars annually and in theUnited Kingdombetween 16,000 and 19,000 pounds, (25,000 – 30,000 dollars) in Central London only, less outside London, (average UK earnings in 2012 was 26,500 pounds).
Social workers, probation officers, rehabilitation counselors all have extremely stressful jobs with comparatively low pay. They help people at difficult times in their lives. Their clients, because they are undergoing a stressful time, sometimes visit their own stress and agitation on their social worker, probation officer, or counsellor. A social worker, for example, sometimes must remove a child from its parents, for the child’s own safety. The social worker may face anger, threats or even violence in seeking to protect children.
All these jobs mean making decisions that affect people’s lives and they have far-reaching effects, when social workers, probation officers, or rehabilitation advisors make a decision, considering all the circumstances, to the best of their knowledge and professional ability, yet cannot predict the future. People blame them whichever decision they come to. It does not matter that they may come under pressure from senior officers about budgets or that they are over-worked, short-staffed and under trained. They are always the scapegoat.
School Crossing Patrol Officers, generally, work on busy roads in the United Kingdom, near schools stopping the traffic to allow children and other pedestrians to cross roads safely. They are affectionately called “Lollipop Ladies or Men”, because they hold up large round signs on poles, which look like lollipops, to stop the traffic. They earn betweensix and seven pounds(nine -eleven US dollars) per hour and work between two and three hours each weekday, split into two sessions morning and afternoon. Their work is stressful because children’s safety is in their hands.
Busy roads in the United Kingdom are very busy indeed. It is now a criminal offence for drivers to disobey a school crossing patrol officer’s signal to stop, but driversoftenignorethe sign, “Stop Children Crossing”. MotoristsinjureandkillCrossing Patrol Officers every year in the UK, through selfishness, stupidity, and excess speed.
Hotel concierges and receptionists must offer excellent service and deal with unreasonable guests with unreasonable requests and still smile. Hotel Concierges usually speak several languages, and deal with guests’ luggage, mail, call taxis, provide tourist information, take guests’ requests, for hotel services such as laundry and meals, and receive bookings.US concierges' salaries range between 23,000 and 36,000 US dollars andBritish concierges from 13,000 to 24, 500 pounds (equivalent to 15,500 to 34,000 US dollars). Hotel Concierges may also have to cover other hotel jobs when need arises. For all hotel concierges must do, and be, they are not well paid and some guests cause them a great deal of stress and anxiety.
Low paid jobs always cause anxiety, especially in difficult economic times. When people are worried as to whether their pay will cover life’s necessities, it is difficult to be anything other than anxious. However, some low paid jobs cause more stress than others, because the work involves dealing with other people during stressful life events, the job is difficult or dangerous, the job’s nature is harrowing, or because they deal with the Public. Many low paid jobs that fall into such categories, and the above is simply a selection, amongst the many, oflow paid jobsthat bring their own anxieties.
