October 20, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Occupational stress and time away from work

The median absence from work for cases of occupational stress was 23 days in 1997. This was more than four times the median absence for all occupational injuries and illnesses.

[Chart data—TXT]

Forty-four percent of occupational stress cases involved 31 or more lost workdays. In contrast, only 19 percent of all injuries and illnesses resulted in absences of at least 31 days.

Cases of occupational stress involving days away from work are classified by BLS as cases of "neurotic reaction to stress." There were an estimated 3,418 cases of occupational stress involving days away from work 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. Percentages in the chart do not sum to 100 due to rounding.