New CDC report breaks down the risk of suicides for every job industry… with very surprising results

Men who work in coal mining are at the highest risk of suicide in the US, according to an official analysis of 2021 figures.

For women, suicide rates were highest among artists and those who work in performing arts and construction.

Meanwhile, those least likely to die by suicide were those who worked in teaching – and this applied to both men and women, the CDC data showed.

A second analysis looked at the change in suicide rate between 2001 and 2021, and noted a stark increase of 33 percent in the US working-age population – those aged 16-64.

In 2021, a total of 37,602 people of working age died by suicide, compared to 24,767 in 2001.

To guide suicide prevention strategies, the CDC analyzed suicides by industry and occupation in 49 states, using data from the 2021 death records.

Coal miners, builders and machinery operators are some of those most at risk of suicide.

It is well documented that mental health problems are particularly prevalent in miners.

A 2021 study found that more than a third of coal miners and former coal miners with black lung disease struggle with depression, and more than one in 10 have recently considered suicide.

In industries such as mining, construction, vehicle repair, arts and entertainment and farming, the rate of suicide was higher than the average across all sectors.

Artists are thought to be at higher risk of suicide because of their higher prevalence of mental illness, particularly mood disorders. 

Studies of artists and writers collated in Scientific American found that they are up to 20 times more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder and 10 times more likely to have depression. 

Psychiatrists at Standford University have suggested this may be because artistic people tend to be more sensitive than others, and have an intense desire to find meaning through their work.

Male miners had a suicide rate of 72 per 100,000 people, while construction was 56 for men and 10.4 for women.

Compared to the whole working population, suicide rates for men, women or both were elevated in nine of the 20 major industry groups: mining, construction, other services (such as vehicle repair), arts, entertainment and recreation, farming, transportation and warehousing, administration and HR, hotel and food service and healthcare and social work.

For both genders, the industry with the lowest rate of suicides was education.

There is little research to suggest why this may be – however some have posed that teachers are more likely to have feminine characteristics, like empathy and thoughtfulness, and personality types like this are less likely to choose methods of suicide that kill them.

Another reason could be that those working in education find their job deeply rewarding. 

A national survey of teachers from 2016 by the Center on Education Policy found the majority of teachers said the job was ‘highly rewarding’. 

They felt they were making a difference to students’ lives and enjoyed seeing their students succeed academically.

Wholesale trade also had comparatively low suicide rates for both men and women, which may be because the job involves lots of interaction with people.

Overall, men were four times more likely to die by suicide than women. Previous research has suggested men are more likely to complete suicide as they use more forceful and violent methods.

Suicides in America surged to record highs last year – reaching almost 50,000.

Data separately released by the National Center for Health Statistics shows a total of 1,266 more people killed themselves in 2022, compared to 2021 – a rise of three percent.

And since 2014, suicides have lept by 16 percent.

What’s more, the agency said the final, most recent count is likely to be higher as death information is reviewed.

The data, which comes from death certificates, suggests that suicides are now more common in the US than they have been at any time since World War II.

The NCHS data showed that suicides also rose between 2020 and 2021, jumping by more than 1,000.

Experts have blamed increased pressure due to the rise of social media, isolation related to the pandemic and the cost of living crisis for the surge in these types of deaths.