October 13, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Decline in cases of occupational stress

There were an estimated 3,418 cases of occupational stress involving days away from work in 1997. This was the lowest number of cases in the 1992-97 period.

[Chart data—TXT]

Compared to 1992, there were 15 percent fewer cases of occupational stress in 1997. BLS first collected data on detailed case characteristics of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in 1992.

Cases of occupational stress involving days away from work are classified by BLS as cases of "neurotic reaction to stress." Occurrences of neurotic reaction to stress are relatively infrequent—the incidence rate for private industry was 4 cases per 100,000 full-time workers in 1997.

These data are a product of the BLS Safety and Health Statistics Program. Additional information is available from "Occupational Stress: Counts and Rates" (PDF 52K), by Timothy Webster and Bruce Bergman, Compensation and Working Conditions, Fall 1999.