Top ten fastest growing occupations

““Thus the labour of a manufacturer adds generally to the value of the materials which he works upon, that of his own maintenance, and of his master’s profit. The labour of a menial servant, on the contrary, adds to the value of nothing. Though the manufacturer has his wages advanced to him by his master, he in reality costs him no expense, the value of those wages being generally restored, together with a profit, in the improved value of the subject upon which his labour is bestowed. But the maintenance of a menial servant never is restored. A man grows rich by employing a multitude of manufacturers; he grows poor by maintaining a multitude or menial servants.”

Excerpt From: Smith, Adam. “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” 1776

Some of those entry level educational requirements seem a bit off. There is likely significant regional difference, especially in the professions like teaching and registered nursing. Even in the lower paid jobs, such as retail salesperson, it isn’t likely that you can get the job without a HS diploma. And what manufacturer is hiring reps without an earned BA or BS?

Perhaps it’s true that nursing jobs are on the rise, Rusty, but most of the wage gains in nursing aren’t taking place at the patient-care level, they are instead taking place behind the scene at the management level. For instance, RNs who are employed as glorified office workers are paid substantially more than RNs who are employed as highly-skilled clinicians, despite the fact that they never have to deal with life-and-death issues and never have to put their licenses on the line caring for and treating patients — something which is always the case for nurses working directly at the bedside with patients.

Two weekends ago, I received a patient from an outside hospital, and as soon as I laid eyes on him, I ALONE quickly became aware that he was super, super sick while the rest of the medical staff looked around looking dumbfoundedly clueless. I promptly had him stabilized and intubated and then shipped off to the ICU. Even though I ALONE prevented this patient from dying, or at least prevented him from having an anoxic brain injury or from going into multi-system failure, the only thing I got was a pat on the back from the medical director, probably ’cause he knew that I saved his sorry ass.

That’s literally all I got for preventing a patient from dying, or at least from becoming a limp and lifeless vegetable for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, all the nurses who have the rather simple and stress-free job of auditing his chart or making arrangements for his discharge get a big fat raise. Keep in mind, what they mostly do is Mickey-Mouse work that an average intelligent computer can easily do, or an moderately trained social worker can easily do for a lot, lot less.

I don’t know if the overly complex and overly bureaucratic nature of ObamaCare is what’s causing hospitals and other large providers to add layers upon layers of costly fat to their management structure with overpaid, over-benefited busybodies in so-called “care management” and “utilization review,” but whatever the cause may be, all of this is glaringly and grossly backwards and none of it is the least bit sustainable from a cost-containment standpoint. Think about this the next time you see your insurance premiums go up by a non-trivial amount, and do what I do, which is to explain and explain loudly as to why this is so.

Well Alicia, should I pay more attention to your question or your advertisement?

And just what part of the advertisement is the question?