With the unemployment rate nationally still hovering around 9 percent, many people are grateful simply to get a paycheck -- but gratitude doesn't take the stress out of the daily grind.

To get a sense of the most stressful jobs in America, CareerCast.com looked at 11 different factors that can cause stress on the job, and ranked 200 professions by how significantly these demands factor into the average workday. Factors that weighed into stress include work environment, job competitiveness, physical demands, deadlines, on-the-job dangers and even the job's growth potential.

Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com, highlights an interesting trend in America's job market: "As for people who want to throw themselves into bigger challenges, there are simply less of those people than there used to be. "This phenomenon is having an effect on new entrants into the job market. Specifically, he says, new college graduates are seeking jobs that bring them less stress, a choice that may be difficult to realize for individuals who have been entrenched in their jobs for an extended period of time.

Lee says there will always be people willing to take on the challenges of consistently stressful jobs, such as firefighters and policemen. However, these professions feel the additional stress of the overall economy in the form of uncertainty about budget cuts and pension benefits -- which can considerably add to an already stressful job.

For almost every job in America, the recession has in some way affected how individuals feel in their everyday work routine. How have the rankings of stressful jobs changed and which jobs rank as the most stressful this year?

Let's take a look.