The Jobs Most Likely to Make You Drink
By Christopher Ingraham - Washington Post
Drug abuse -- including and especially alcohol abuse -- costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars in lost productivity each year.New government data released this month can now tell us exactly which industries' employees drink the most, which do the most drugs, and where employees are most likely not just to use drugs, but abuse them. Here's how the numbers break down:
Drinking Jobs, Drug Jobs
Mining is tough work and dangerous, so it may not be surprising that miners are the hardest drinkers in the federal survey -- nothing like spending the day deep underground surrounded by tons of rock to make you crave a cold one when you get home. Eighteen percent of miners are "heavy drinkers," defined here as "drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on 5 or more days in the past 30 days." They're followed by construction workers at 17 percent, and hotel and restaurant workers at 12 percent.
When it comes to drug use, on the other hand,