A government study has found that 7% of all US full-time workers have suffered "a major depressive episode" during the past 12 months, and that the likelihood of such an event may be related to the type of employment the worker is engaged in. The bad news? Lawyers are below average at 6.4%. The worse news? Entertainment and media is nearer to the top of the depressive heap.
Lumped into a category called Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media, the group was over two points worse than average at 9.1%. The most depressed group is Personal Care and Service, at 10.8%, followed by Food Preparation and Serving (10.3%), Community and Social Services (9.6%) and Healthcare Practitioners and Technical (also 9.6%).
Sales, also part of broadcasting, was near the middle of the pack at 6.7%.
The least depressing jobs are Engineering, Architecture and Surveyors (4.3%), Life, Physical and Social Sciences (4.4%), Installation, Maintenance and Repair (4.4%) and Construction and Extraction (4.8%).
The study is the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from the Office of Applied Studies of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
