Sherwood News

America’s most trusted professions

A new Gallup poll reveals: Americans think nursing is the most ethical profession.

1/15/25 6:36AM

It’s honest work

When choosing a career, there are several (often contradictory) factors that determine people’s decisions: pay, of course; personal interests; work-life balance; location; public perception; and how a particular job might weigh on their conscience.

But which professions do Americans trust the most?

A recent Gallup poll, published on Monday, found that 76% of US adults considered nurses to have high or very high honesty and ethical standards, with teachers, military officers, and pharmacists also scoring highly amongst those surveyed.

Sting occupations

Conversely, Americans were skeptical about the ethical standards of TV reporters (55% considered low or very low), members of Congress (68%), and lobbyists (68%) — perhaps because the public perception of professionals in political and media-related fields is that many of them have ulterior motives, as is the case with stereotypically mercenary car salespeople and lawyers, which also ranked negatively overall.

Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, infamously said in November 2009 — with the impacts of the global financial crisis still reverberating loudly — that he and his fellow bankers were “doing God’s work.” Ridiculed at the time, he might be pleased to see his once vilified profession ranked not far behind the clergy, per Gallup.

Zooming out: the average of high/very high ethical ratings across the core 11 professions sunk to just 30% in 2024, with trust in medical doctors in particular having dropped 14 percentage points since 2021.

Hyunsoo Rim

hardly working

5/27/26

Teens aren’t getting summer jobs like they used to — this year could be worse than ever

Teen summer hiring in the US might hit its lowest level since federal tracking began, new report finds.

Saleah Blancaflor

5/15/26

From Desi Arnaz to SpaceX: Understanding the rules of the modern economy

We talked with “Planet Money” author Alex Mayyasi about how AI might help or replace you, the superstar effect, and how the compounding effect extends beyond money.

Globes covered with various currencies suspended in space

Millie Giles5/8/26

Ahead of Mother’s Day, Google searches for “same day flower delivery” have ticked up a little earlier this year

If you’ve already made plans for a Mother’s Day gift in advance of this Sunday, congratulations. But if alarm bells are suddenly ringing, consider this a gentle reminder that, like a sizable share of the US population this time of year often does, you can still scrape together some last-minute flowers for the woman who carried you for nine months.

Data from Google Trends reveals that searches for “same day flower delivery” spike in the US in May every year, when Mother’s Day takes place. As we noted last February, the same query also gains traction around Valentine’s Day.

This year, however, it appears that searches for last-minute flowers have remained elevated in the last two months after the usual peak in February — with the search interest this April actually exceeding that seen around Cupid’s Day.

Honestly, we’re not sure why searches are spiking a little early. One explanation might be that Passover and Easter have overlapped at the start of April, and Americans wanted to celebrate with some flowers. Maybe it’s a host of Claude bots that are now running errands for AI-obsessed execs — or perhaps Americans are just impulse-buying some seasonal spring blooms after an unusually warm March, without a particular occasion.