Audiologist, a practitioner who assesses and treats hearing disorders, is ranked as the nation's least stressful profession, according to the new CareerCast.com 2011 report on the least and most stressful jobs.

More than half of the 10 least stressful professions are in the health care field, including Audiologist (#1), Dietitian (#2), Dental Hygienist (#5), Speech Pathologist (#6), Occupational Therapist (#9) and Chiropractor (#10). Software Engineer (#3), Computer Programmer (#4), Philosopher (#7) and Mathematician (#8) rounded out the 10 least stressful professions.

"Professions that involve low stress have very little danger and minimal physical demands, both of which can compound stress," explainsTony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. "Job seekers who want a laid back career and a high quality of life should look for professions that involve shorter work weeks, low pressure and little competition, like those that ranked in our top 10 least stressful professions list."

CareerCast.com's stressful jobs report also found that the most stressful profession for 2011 is Commercial Airline Pilot. Certainly a Southwest Airlines pilot can attest to that, after a hole ripped through the fuselage en route to Sacramento, Calif., recently, forcing the flight to make an emergency landing in the Arizona desert.

Interestingly, four of the top 10 most stressful professions are media-related: Public Relations Executive (#2), Photojournalist (#4), Newscaster (#5) and Advertising Account Executive (#6).

"Jobs in communications can be high pressure, especially for public relations executives handling crisis situations, newscasters who go on-air with little or no time for preparation, and photojournalists working in dangerous environments," says Lee. "And as traditional forms of communication transition to digital, those who want to remain employed need to embrace new technologies or find a new career."

CareerCast.com's 2011 report on the least and most stressful professions surveyed 200 different jobs, measuring work environment, job competitiveness and risk to determine the rankings. The criteria used by CareerCast.com researchers include 11 different factors that invoke stress. Each factor was assigned a range of points, and a high score was given if it was a major part of the job, while fewer points were given if it wasn't normally required.

CareerCast.com's Lowest Stress Professions:

1. Audiologist
2. Dietitian
3. Software Engineer
4. Computer Programmer
5. Dental Hygienist
6. Speech Pathologist
7. Philosopher
8. Mathematician
9. Occupational Therapist
10. Chiropractor

CareerCast.com's Highest Stress Professions:

1. Commercial Airline Pilot
2. Public Relations Executive
3. Corporate Executive, Senior
4. Photojournalist
5. Newscaster
6. Advertising Account Executive
7. Architect
8. Stockbroker
9. Emergency Medical Technician
10. Real Estate Agent

Visit www.CareerCast.com to view the full report.

About CareerCast.com

CareerCast.com, created by Adicio, is a job search site that offers extensive local, niche and national job listings from across North America, job-hunting, career-management and HR-focused editorial content, videos and blogs, and provides recruiters with the ability to post jobs directly to more than 800 niche career sites. CareerCast.com also compiles the Jobs Rated Report (www.jobsrated.com), where 200 jobs across North America are ranked based on detailed analysis of specific careers factors as well as a monthly employment index, which measures managerial recruitment activity online.

SOURCE CareerCast.com