Why are the 20 most dangerous occupations filled overwhelmingly by men? Why aren’t liberals hollering for equal representation? 

 

Chart of the Day I (above) displays the top 20 most dangerous US jobs based on recently-released BLS data for fatal injury rates (per 100,000 full-time workers) by occupation in 2015. A few observations:

a. Men represent more than 90% of the workers in 14 of the top 20 most dangerous occupations, and more than 85% of the workers in 18 of the 20 most dangerous jobs.

b. Logging is by far the most dangerous occupation, with 67 fatal injuries last year and 132.7 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers. Logging is more than 2 times more dangerous than the second most dangerous job — commercial fishing — and more than 3 times more dangerous than the third most dangerous job — commercial pilot.

c. Working as a police officer isn’t anywhere close to being one of the most dangerous US occupations, and it’s actually more likely that a taxi driver (13.2 deaths per 100,000) will be killed on the job than a police officer (11.7 per 100,000).

Via Mark J. Perry