Sifter

Being a newspaper journalist is not easy. The pay is low, the hours are long and the job is deadly—twice as deadly as working as a manager at the Gap. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 7.1 of every 100,000 journalists croaked on the job in 2003, compared to 3.7 supervisors or managers in the retail industry during the same year. Neither of these fields is likely to garner much sympathy from taxi drivers or lumberjacks, two of the most dangerous American occupations—that is unless you count crab fishing or working with Operation Iraqi Freedom as a member of the U.S. armed services. With on-the-job fatalities as the only criterion, here are some of the most dangerous ways Americans make a living. Except for military, all numbers are for 2003. Operation Iraqi Freedom (O.I.F.) numbers are for 2004 (www.dior.whs.mil/DIORHOME.HTM), the first full year of conflict.

Job title total fatalities fatalities per 100,000 employees

Police/sheriff 128 20.9

All construction laborers 289 25.1

Roofers 76 42.7

All driver/sales workers & truck drivers 861 26.7

Taxi drivers 55 177.4

All farmers & ranchers 329 39.3

Dairy industry 56 115.9

Aircraft pilots/ flight engineers 113 97.4

Logging workers 104 131.6

Crab fishing 22 688.8

All U.S. military in O.I.F. 845 418.1

Air Force in O.I.F. 7 37.6

Navy in O.I.F. 17 98.3

Army in O.I.F. 509 375

Marines in O.I.F. 302 990.2