Blue? Your Job May Be to Blame

Survey ranks professions according to depression rates
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2007 3:06 PM CDT
Blue? Your Job May Be to Blame
Caregivers report highest depression rate among U.S. workers at 11%   (Shutterstock)

Those who care professionally for children or the elderly and those who dish out food and drinks tend to suffer from depression more than anyone else, a new government study says. To ward off the blues, try becoming an architect, an engineer or a surveyor, the job categories with the least amount of depression, the AP says.

Those in health care and social services had the third-highest rate of depression. Overall, 7 percent of full-time workers reported a bout with depression, although those with  jobs were less depressed than the unemployed. Women were more depressed than men, and young workers better off than older co-workers. The disease results in $30 billion to $44 billion in lost productivity each year, the study says. (More mental health stories.)

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