Are you looking for a career? America’s Career InfoNet video library helps you glimpse the possibilities. America’s Career Infonet now offers nearly 200 online occupational videos. Each video lasts just over a minute and features a narrator describing the occupation, its benefits and drawbacks, the training and personal attributes it requires, and its typical work settings.

And if a picture is worth a thousand words, streaming video is an even better bargain. As the narrator speaks, a short movie shows a variety of people doing the work described.

The video library describes careers of every type, from childcare to physical therapy to working for the merchant marines. The videos are online at http://www.acinet.org/acinet/resource/videos.htm.

Cattle were the animals most dangerous in an attack, with charging bulls causing 68 of the 141 cattle-related fatalities during the 1992-97 period. The next most dangerous were equine animals, including horses and donkeys, which were involved in 104 fatalities. Many of these fatalities came from falling from a horse.

Insects stung and spiders bit about 36,000 workers on the job. The most serious illnesses resulted from bees and wasps stinging allergic workers. Spider, fire ant, and scorpion attacks were rarer, but their venom injured even non-allergic workers.

Domestic animals were hazardous, too. Most of the 13,800 injuries to workers by dogs came from attacks. But dogs also caused drivers to swerve off the road and technicians and veterinarians carrying heavy breeds to strain muscles. Overall, cats were less dangerous than dogs; most of the 4,6000 cat-related injuries came from biting and scratching.

Even seemingly harmless animals posed a threat. Fish injured 2,500 workers. More than half of those injuries came from fish falling on workers during processing.

Find more details about animal injuries in "Are Animals Occupational Hazards?" in the fall 2000 issue of Compensation and Working Conditions. Copies of the issue are available for $12 ($15 foreign) from the Superintendent of Documents, PO Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250; (202) 512-1800. You can also download the article from the index online at http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cwchome.htm.

It’s well known that high school dropouts usually earn less than high school graduates. But according to a recent study of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, women who leave high school before graduating can increase their earnings significantly if they pass the GED—the general educational development test, also known as the high school equivalency test—and attend vocational school.

Women who dropped out between 1979 and 1984 and who passed the GED were earning 25 percent more—about $1,328—a decade after leaving high school than dropouts who didn’t pass the test.

Adding a year of training brought results that are even more dramatic. Women who attended vocational school for 1 year earned about 50 percent more than women who had neither a GED nor training. For each year of training, women earned an average of $1,239 more (in 1990 dollars) 10 years after leaving high school. That means a woman with 2 years of training usually earned about $2,480 more per year than a woman with no training.

The study tracked women who passed the GED 3 years after leaving high school. To learn more, see "‘Second-chance’ strategies for women who drop out of school" in the December 2000 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Single copies are available for $13 ($16.25 foreign) from the Superintendent of Documents, PO Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250; (202) 512-1800. The article also is available online at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/12/art2full.pdf.

The season of s’mores and spooky stories around campfires is upon us. Summer is peak time for camping—and camping employment. If you’re interested in finding a short-term assignment as a camp counselor or a full-time career in the cabins, the American Camping Association has free information to help.

The Association publishes a booklet of job openings and maintains an online database of more than 6,000 camp jobs. Most summer camp jobs— such as camp counselor, art instructor, lifeguard, cook, sports instructor, and nurse—are short term. But a few positions, including camp director and tour director, are year round.

To order a free copy of the Summer Camp Employment Opportunity Booklet and learn more about camp careers, write the Association at 5000 State Rd. 67 North, Martinsville, IN 46151-7902; call (765) 342-8456; or visit online at http://www.acacamps.org/jobs.htm.