This Is the Profession People Trust the Most

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By Emily DiNuzzo, Reader's Digest

People want to have faith in the products they buy, the people they employ, and the information they read. Having a good reputation is a big part of that trust. In the workplace, some professions are more reputable than others. A Gallup Poll gave a rating for 20 occupations in terms of honesty and ethical standards. More than 80 percent of people rated nurses as the professionals they trust most.

This isn’t the first time nurses topped the poll—in fact, they’ve been consistently ranking at the top for 17 years. Medical professionals are trusted more across the board, Forbes reports. So the next two most trusted professions are doctors and pharmacists, respectively. The poll asked people to rate all the professions as highly honest and ethical, average, low, or no opinion. We looked into the 35 most trustworthy brands in health and wellness, too.

The next most trusted professionals are high school teachers, police officers, accountants, funeral directors, and members of the clergy. The following are journalists, building contractors, bankers, real estate agents, labor union leaders, and lawyers. At the bottom of the pack are business executives, stockbrokers, advertising practitioners, telemarketers, car salespeople, and members of Congress. Only 8 percent of people view car salespeople and members of Congress as honest and ethical.

Although the list changes from year to year, many professions like nurses are regular repeats. In fact, the only time nurses didn’t top this list since their 1999 addition was in 2001. Firefighters topped the list that year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Pharmacists and clergy members were also frequently the most highly-rated professionals for their ethics before 1999, per the poll. Some of these rankings make sense, while others might be a bit surprising.