Mail carrier rated most at-risk U.S. job, followed by farmer and meter reader, then newspaper reporter

Mail carrier is the most endangered job in America, and farmers and newspaper reporters are not far behind, according to the CareerCast 2014 Jobs Rated projections for 2022. (CareerCast photo)

The report says mail-carrier jobs are expected to decline 28 percent in the next eight years due to "proliferation of online communication and immediate accessibility." The National Association of Letter Carriers has estimated that 25,000 carriers would lose their jobs if the U.S. Postal Service cuts first-class delivery to five days a week. USPS is also moving toward apartment-style mailboxes for neighborhoods to shorten carrier routes.

Technology will cause farming and meter-reading jobs to decline 19 percent (utility meters are increasingly read by remote telemetry) and newspaper reporting jobs to shrink 13 percent, the report says. "Technology allows those already in farming to accomplish more with fewer resources, particularly workers," the report says. "Declining subscription and dwindling advertising sales have negatively impacted the hiring power of some newspapers . . . and the long-term outlook for newspaper reporters reflects the change."

Also on the list are travel agents, a 12 percent decline; lumberjacks, 9 percent, flight attendants, 7 percent; drill-press operators, 6 percent; printing workers, 5 percent; and tax examiner and collector, 4 percent. (Read more)