Troubling Trend: Workplace Suicides

In 2013, 270 U.S. workers committed suicide at work, a 12 percent increase over the prior year. An American Journal of Preventative Health study found that workplace suicides increased sharply from 2007 to 2010, bolstering the theory that the economic recession may have affected individuals already at risk. Men, who are in general more likely to commit suicide, were 15 times more likely to kill themselves at work. Also at higher risk according to the study: people of “other/unknown” race, and those between the ages of 65 and 74. People working in protective services jobs, like policemen or firefighters, were 3.5 times more likely to take their own lives at work.