2.3 Occupation

Current illicit drug use and heavy alcohol use varied considerably across occupation categories. Food preparation workers, waiters, waitresses, and bartenders had the highest rate of both current illicit drug and heavy alcohol use at 18.7 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Other occupations that showed high rates of current illicit drug use were: construction (14.1%), other service occupations (12.5%), and transportation and material moving (10.0%). Rates of current heavy alcohol use were higher among handlers, helpers and laborers (13.5%), construction workers (12.4%), precision production and repair (11.6%), other service workers (11.4%), and transportation and material moving (10.8%). In contrast, workers in administrative support and protective service reported two of the lowest rates of reported current illicit drug use (3.2% and 3.0%, respectively); workers in sales, and in professional specialty reported low rates of current heavy alcohol use (4.1% and 4.4%, respectively).

Workers in some occupations, such as food preparation, waiters, waitresses and bartenders; transportation and material moving; construction; and other services, reported high rates of both illicit drug use and heavy alcohol use. In contrast, workers in professional specialty, administrative support, and extractive and precision production occupations reported low rates of both illicit drug use and heavy alcohol use. Workers in some occupations, such as protective service, precision production and repair, and handlers, helpers, and laborers, reported noticeably less current illicit drug than reported current heavy alcohol use. In contrast, workers in sales were much more likely to report current illicit drug use than current heavy alcohol use.

Compared to 1994, there were some statistically significant changes in rates of use by occupation in 1997. About 3.2 percent of workers in administrative support reported current illicit drug use in 1997, 2.8 percentage points less than in 1994. In contrast, Other Service Workers reported a current illicit drug use rate that was two times larger in 1997 than in 1994 (12.5% in 1997 vs. 5.6% in 1994); 18.7 percent of workers in food preparation, waiters, waitresses, and bartenders reported current illicit drug use, 7.3 percentage points higher than in 1994. Workers in both sales and extractive and precision production reported remarkably lower current heavy alcohol use in 1997 than in 1994 (4.1% in 1997 vs. 8.3% in 1994 for sales workers; 5.5% in 1997 vs. 12.9% in 1994 for extractive and precision production workers).