How tough is your job? Some push folks to retire sooner than others

Construction helper, 99.7

Mine roof bolter, 99.6

Fishing workers, 99.5

Roofing helper, 99.4

Jobs with the lowest risk of early retirement due to aging

Job, Susceptibility index (0 is lowest risk)

Compensation and benefits manager, 0.1

College forestry instructor, 0.2

College foreign language and literature instructor, 0.3

College mathematical science instructor, 0.4

Sociologist, 0.5

Source: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

We all have rough days at work that sometimes make us wonder, “How much longer can I take this job?”

But bad days aside, some jobs are mentally or physically more taxing than others. And year after year, as workers age, how tough their jobs are may play a big role in how long they can work, and how soon they may need to retire, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

The research center recently ranked how demanding 954 occupations are, to see which types of work might lead to earlier retirements.

Using federal data on the skills required in each occupation, the researchers came up with a “Susceptibility Index” based on their measures of how much those skills decline with age.

As would be expected, many of the highest-risk jobs are blue-collar occupations that require physical stamina, the researchers noted, such as roofers and construction helpers.

Likewise, some of the workers least susceptible to age-related decline hold white collar jobs, such as lawyers, engineers and loan counselors.

But some white-collar jobs are more likely to lead to early retirement than some blue-collar jobs. According to the center’s ranking, white collar and professional employees such as surgeons and computer network architects have jobs that are about as taxing, over the long haul, as personal care aides and warehouse workers.

For the research center's full ranking of occupations, click here.