WADOO!!: Some Jobs in Danger of Extinction: Is Yours on the List?

Could your career go the way of Blockbuster or MySpace—defunct or all-but-useless? According to a recent annual survey by CareerCast, several jobs are knocking at extinction’s door.

Leading the pack of perishing careers is that of mail carrier, expected to lose 28 percent of its workforce by 2022, the survey shows. Like many dwindling jobs, mail carriers are the victims of technology. “More Americans choose to correspond via email or text message, dramatically slashing the amount of mail and reducing the need for postal services,” according to the survey. Online and app-form financial programs “also allow for people to electronically transfer funds they would have otherwise sent through the mail.

Trailing closely behind are meter readers, whose jobs are expected to reduce force by 19 percent over the next seven years because utility usage, the survey reports, can now be tracked digitally. Farmers too will feel the pressure of extinction as their numbers contract by 19 percent as streamlined planting and harvesting techniques allow fewer farmers to do more work.

Newspaper reporters may also have to find another line of work. The media industry “is undergoing a profound transformation as outlets work to keep up with evolving technology,” according to the survey. And by 2022, there should be a 13 percent decline in the number of reporters.

Here, according to the survey, are the top 10 most endangered jobs.

1. Mail carrier
2. Meter reader
3. Farmer
4. Newspaper reporter
5. Logging worker
6. Jeweler
7. Flight attendant
8. Drill-press operator
9. Insurance underwriter
10. Seamstress or tailor

Are you surprised to see any of the jobs on this list? Could your career be endangered?