Best job in the world – but it's only for math geeks
- Source: Global Times
- [21:11 January 24 2010]
- Comments
By Barry Cunningham
Illustration: Liu Rui
If you want somebody to guess how long you will live, ask a Chinese fortuneteller.
If you want to bet on your odds for a long life, ask an actuary.
What's an actuary?
"We predict the future," says Chinese actuary Milton "Milt" Xu, who works for a large Beijing insurance firm. Xu is one of the behind-the-scenes insurance people who use computers and calculators to place a financial value on risk.
Actuaries are the odds-makers who run the numbers on how long you will live, whether your pension plan will fail, or what it will cost if your house is swept away in a typhoon.
If calculus stirs the fires of your primitive soul and applied mathematics makes your lips quiver with excitement, actuary might be the job for you.
This is particularly the case since being an actuary has just been ranked the No. l job in the US, according to a study publicized by the Wall Street Journal.
The study ranked 200 jobs based on high pay, job outlook, comfort levels, workplace environment and stress.
Suddenly, all those math geeks dismissed as boring numbers crunchers and bean counters at the bottom of the corporate pyramid can brag that they are the masters of the universe, ranked higher than software engineers, computer systems analysts and biologists.
The No. 1 job in the US has also become the No. 1 job that nobody in China has ever heard of, and even if they've heard of it, don't understand what an actuary does, according to Milton, who uses his English name for fear that if he's identified, he'll be hounded by eager applicants asking for tips on how to get the No. 1 job.
"When I heard I have the No. 1 job, I thought it was a joke," says Milton. "I always thought that airline pilot would be the No. 1 job in China, because there are fewer pilots than actuaries."
There are only 300 actuaries in all of China, according to the China Association of Actuaries.
Milton Xu had dreams of becoming an airline pilot before he stumbled into an actuary program at Nankai University in Tianjin, going on to get his master's degree and license certificate.
How does the romance of flight compare with a job that many people assume to be as exciting as watching grass grow?
"You have to care very deeply about math," he deadpans. Xu is 30 years old and married to another actuary.
"Double boredom," he smiles.
Airline pilots, by the way, are ranked 129 on the jobs list, a fairly low ranking due to stress in the cockpit.
Meanwhile, actuaries are smiling all the way to the bank, with corporate headhunters dangling job offers in front of them and top insurance firms paying big bucks to bank on their predictions.
Now that we all know how cool it is to be an actuary, many other job-holders will be scrambling to see how their career choices stack up in careercast.com's list of the 200 best and worst jobs in the US.
Two surprising career choices are museum curator and social worker, which rank 19th and 20th for job opportunities.
Although federal judges are highly paid, they suffer from a poor hiring outlook and end up a mere 63 on the list.
Funny, but I never thought of a judge being out of work, carrying his black robes from courtroom to courtroom, asking if anyone needs part-time help to decide a racketeering case.
Workplace environment was another yardstick for measuring the best and worst jobs.
Maybe that's why dentists are ranked 97 (Bad breath?), psychiatrists are at 98 (Listening to wackos?) and undertakers come in at 134 (Don't ask).
At least the guys on the bottom rung of the job ladder, oil field roughnecks right down at 200, are laboring for a lofty contribution to society: energy.
I am inclined to believe the best-and-worst jobs list because newspaper reporters were ranked near the bottom, 184; lower than janitors, waitresses or plumbers.
This makes perfect sense to me because those workers do a much better job than I do of cleaning up other people's messes. I only write about the mess.
As for longevity on the job, I think I need an actuary.
The author, an Emmy Award-winning TV news correspondent, is a copy editor with the Global Times. barrycunningham@ globaltimes.com.cn
