Summary: U.S. News lists being a lawyer as the 71st best job in the country.
It’s almost hard to believe that there was once upon a time when being a lawyer was considered a top job. However, now that law school debt is massive, advancement opportunities are lessening, and stress is sky high, being a lawyer isn’t as desirable a career as it used to be, particularly in the eyes of U.S. News and World Report.
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The publication, famous for ranking everything from law schools to trucks, releases a yearly list of its “best jobs” in the country. Its purpose is to help job seekers at all levels make informed career decisions. While Lawyer was named the 71st best job in 2016, the list was dominated by medical and technology jobs. According to U.S. News, the field of medicine is the most appealing because of the high pay, low unemployment rates, awesome work-life balance, and general job satisfaction. Based on this criteria, it kinda makes sense why being a lawyer didn’t crack the top 50 spots. After all, try telling your Big Law firm that you want to work less than 60 hours a week and see what happens.
Orthodontists were listed as having the best job, followed by Dentists and Computer Systems Analysts.
U.S. News ranked the top paying jobs as well, and surprisingly lawyers were also excluded in the higher rankings in favor of those in medicine.
So if you were ever pressured as a youth to be a lawyer or a doctor, apparently there was a clear cut winning choice. But hey, even if medical jobs may be deemed “better” than legal ones, at least you never have to touch blood.
Source: U.S. News and World Report
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