Editorial

In a previous editorial I talked about statistics and what you could make of them (The Electronic Library, 3, 5, Dec 1985, pp. 303–4) — now here's another statistic of dubious value. “Miners endure greatest job stress, librarians least” screams the headline (headlines always scream) in a recent issue of the International Herald Tribune. On a scale from 10 to 0 miners were rated 8.3 for occupational stress endurance with librarians rated 2.0. Librarians rate lower than clergymen and beauticians (3.5); astronomers (3.4); nannies (3.3) and museum workers (2.8). Higher up the scale are farmers and diplomats (4.8); bus drivers (5.4); stockbrokers (5.5); doctors and tax collectors (6.8); politicians (7.2); dentists (7.3); journalists, construction workers, civil aviation pilots and prison officers (7.5); and police (7.7). Now some of these you wouldn't want to quibble with — although stress may not be present all of the time. Even police can have an easy day on the beat and pilots can switch on the automatic pilot for a while. However, if you are continually faced with the possibility of potentially dangerous and demanding situations — as police, miners, prison officers, pilots and construction workers are — then your stress level is bound to be higher. Farmers, while in no physical danger like the preceding categories, nevertheless have variables in their lives (the weather!) which cause them to worry about possible loss of livelihood.