Adicio’s CareerCast.com published its second-annual Jobs Rated Report, tracking the “best” and “worst” across 200 U.S. professions. The best? Actuary, actually… The worst? Roustabout (the name alone sounds like the loser in a bar fight).

The list generated a lot of publicity when it first came out in 2009. It was timed to coincide with the CareerCast’s launch, featuring listings from a vast network of job sites using Adicio’s recruitment platform.

The repeat performance was also well-received — picked up by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Kansas City Star and other newspapers.

There’s a great marketing lesson here: Create an interesting conversation and it’s more likely to go viral on you.

There’s actually some science to CareerCast’s jobs-rated research. Rankings ar based on multiple criteria, including work environment, stress, physical demands, income and employment outlook. Actuaries have an average income of about $85,000, and one of the least physically demanding jobs with little stress. And to think that somewhere, there’s an actuary happily computing the longevity of a roustabout.

Roustabout beat out lumberjack for the worst job on the basis of the petrochemical industry’s bleak outlook: “Roustabout is a difficult and dangerous job working on an oil rig with a salary of about $31,000 per year, high unemployment and a negative outlook for growth, which is why it’s ranked as the nation’s worst job,” said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com.

To see the full rankings of all 200 jobs and the study’s methodology, go to www.CareerCast.com or www.JobsRated.com.

Best Jobs in 2010 and How They Fared in 2009:
1. Actuary (up 1)
2. Software Engineer (up 3)
3. Computer Systems Analyst (up 3)
4. Biologist (no change)
5. Historian (up 2)
6. Mathematician (down 5)
7. Paralegal Assistant (up 10)
8. Statistician (down 5)
9. Accountant (up 1)
10. Dental Hygienist (up 35)

Worst Jobs in 2010 and How They Fared in 2009:
200. Roustabout (down
199. Lumberjack (up 1)
198. Ironworker (down 7)
197. Dairy Farmer (up 2)
196. Welder (down 3)
195. Garbage Collector (down 1)
194. Taxi Driver (up 4)
193. Construction Worker/Laborer (down 3)
192. Meter Reader (down 13)
191. Mail Carrier (down 2)

So what’s the worst job you ever had? I was in charge of burying small, dead animals on a pipeline project across Northern Indiana. It paid $3.71 an hour and was a union job. (I could have had it for life, I suppose.)

Can you beat that? Love to hear your comments!