One way as shown in Harvard Business Review is measuring demand uncertainty vs. technological uncertainty.  There are others, such as low barriers to entry (i.e. competitive climate) and bargaining power of suppliers, but that is for another discussion.

When there is uncertain demand, your revenue stream becomes jeopardized.  For example, you know people have to eat everyday, so the demand uncertainty of a restaurant is relatively low compared to that of construction.  New construction is highly dependent on whether the overall economy is doing well or not.  So does eating out at restaurants, but a burger costs less than a building.  Remember, this is all relative.

Technological uncertainty, can be described as the rate in which the technological landscaping is changing.  For example, will new inventions come along to disrupt existing methods?  Are new materials being developed?  Going back to the restaurant and construction example, the technology of a restaurant (e.g. grills, spatulas, etc.) have been relatively consistent compared to that of new construction materials and architectural structures.

In the end, one ways to gauge the uncertainty of your industry is looking at how stable demand is and how stable the technological climate of your product/service is.

Here is a comparison of various industries plotted by their relative uncertainty.