While on publicists. . . .Media relations...

While on publicists. . . .

Media relations exec Josh Baran was so disturbed by a book called “The Jobs Rated Almanac,” due out in May, that he alerted fellow publicists with a memo. The book--”not my client,” wrote Baran--rates jobs according to stress, environment, outlook, etc.

Baran discovered that:

“In general, as publicists, we face a stress level only three ranks behind air traffic controllers and firefighters!”

On a scale of 250--with 1 being most secure--publicists rank 205, only 45 better than migrant farm workers.

“The average publicist works 46.2 hours per week, right next to wholesale sales reps. For us publicists in L.A. and N.Y., this figure is way low if you factor in dinner and lunch meetings, evening events, etc.” NBA basketball players had the shortest work week, firefighters the longest.

But: Publicists rank a comfortable 63rd in terms of income, with the worst being migrant farm workers and . . . book authors!

Concluded Baran: “Publicists in general are stressed out, terribly insecure, working in a poor job environment, with a negative outlook. I doubt if these numbers surprise any of us.”