Onsite massage helps keep employees happy and healthy—and a new, unrelated report from Gallup shows that employment status itself has a large impact on rates of depression in the U.S. workforce.
Overall, 10 percent of American adults say they are currently depressed or have been diagnosed with depression.
According to the study, unemployment and part-time work status when one desires full-time employment are the strongest predictors of being depressed.
Also, “Americans who earn less than $36,000 annually are nearly three times more likely to be depressed than those who earn more than $90,000 per year,” the report noted.
Among the results:
• 16.6 percent of respondents who are not in the workforce at all, are depressed
• 11.4 percent of respondents who are unemployed are depressed
•10.6 percent of respondents who are employed part time while they desire full-time employment are depressed
• People who earn less than $36,000 per year are more likely to be depressed than better-off workers
• 13.2 percent of females and 6.5 percent of males say they are depressed
• Depression peaks around age 56
The findings are from Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index surveys with more than 100,000 Americans, conducted from Jan. 1-July 25, 2013.
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