Farming has fared badly in a rundown of careers compiled by a United States recruitment company. In the CareerCast Jobs Rated report, which has run for 25 years in America, arable and livestock farming placed at 190 out of 200 jobs assessed. Dairy farming fared worse still, coming in at 195.

The Jobs Rated report assessed careers based on a range of criteria, using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates. These criteria included, pay, employment prospects, stress levels, work environment and physical demand from work.

Actuaries (financial risk assessors) were voted top of the list, due to high pay and prospects and flexible working hours. Farming was rated as having low employment prospects and a dangerous work environment, with dairying suffering from the same negative factors but more so, particularly in terms of stress.

Nevertheless, in a yougov poll conducted in UK in March, eleven percent of young people questioned saw farming the career in which they would most like to work, suggesting there is no shortage of willing entrants.     

With a more middling position (122), agricultural scientists were much better placed than the farmers they are employed to inform. Amongst other jobs to pip farming were pest control worker (95), sewage plant operator (87) and nuclear decontamination technician (which, at 65, placed higher than nuclear engineering).

Depressingly, CareerCast said the BLS estimates that "the average employee spends more than two-thirds of his or her day at work or on work-related activities. That's more time than we spend sleeping or raising our children."

The figures have come in for some criticism, for superficiality and failure to acknowledge the differences between individuals that mean some people thrive in certain professions to which others are ill-suited. Some have also questioned the report's accuracy and methodology (it rates physical activity negatively). In response, the US-based recruitment company said "No two work experiences are guaranteed to be alike, and different career paths cater to unique skills and interests. Ultimately, only the individual can determine the best job for her or his abilities and passions."

The company insisted its figures merely exist as a "road map" to point people towards a career in which they will be happy.  

The lowest ranked job overall, based on relatively high stress levels and workload, low pay and poor employment prospects, was news reporter.