Depression Risks Vary Sharply by Job Sector, New Study Reveals
A sweeping new study has found that rates of depression and severe psychological distress differ widely across job sectors, with employees in retail, food service, media, and healthcare support among the most at risk. The findings underscore the urgent need for tailored workplace mental health strategies, particularly as young adults and women are shown to be disproportionately affected.
The research, led by a team at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, analyzed data from over 536,000 working adults across 37 US states, collected between 2015 and 2019. The results, published in JAMA Network Open (JAMA Network Open, June 2025), paint a nuanced portrait of how occupation, age, gender, and insurance status shape mental well-being across the labor market. This information is particularly timely for Thailand, where the impacts of economic change, urbanization, and shifting industry are reshaping the workforce and its vulnerabilities.