Forbes Cites 'Important Jobs' With Low Pay
Newsmax
While it is hardly surprising that the median annual salaries of fast food workers ($18,330) and maids ($19,780) are low, Forbes' Susan Adams was "struck" by the meager pay for workers in some other more challenging, even dangerous professions.
President Barack Obama and other politicians vowed to improve care for the mentally ill after a disturbed 20-year-old killed 20 children and six adults at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, Adams notes.
Yet professionals who help people struggling with mental illness earn less than administrative assistants and insurance agents — $43,700 a year.
"To put together our list of surprisingly low-paying jobs, we combed through the [Bureau of Labor Statistics] list looking for professions we think deserve higher compensation," Adams disclosed.
One surprise on the list: Legislators earn a median salary of $20,620 annually.
Radio and TV announcers, who earn $29,020, "should be paid more, given their high visibility and the pressure on them to perform consistently, even when there is disastrous news breaking," Adams observes.
"Reporters and correspondents, many of whom risk their lives in war zones to report vital stories, earn a mean income of just $35,600."
Other surprisingly low-paying jobs on Adams' list include:
- Firefighters, who risk their lives on the job, earn $45,600.
- Marriage and family therapists who try to keep families together make $48,160.
- Professions the BLS categorizes as "Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers" earn just $19,040, below the 2014 poverty line for a family of four — $23,850.
- Emergency medical technicians and paramedics save lives, but they earn just $31,270 a year.
- Pre-K teachers have a median salary of $27,570.
Adams might have added that workers in "Home Healthcare Services" earn just $21,830, and skilled nurses at "Nursing Care Facilities" make $22,770.
She concludes: "As the national debate continues about raising the federal minimum wage, perhaps we should also be discussing how to lift compensation for important jobs like mental health counselors, firefighters, EMTs, and pre-K teachers, whose jobs save and transform lives."
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