Almost 11 percent of personal care workers, including those tending the elderly, disabled and children, reported depression lasting two weeks or longer.
Workers who prepare and serve food - waiters, cooks and bartenders - had the second highest rate of depression among full-time employees aged 18 to 64 at 10.3 percent.
Health care and social workers came in third at 9.6 percent.
The lowest rate of depression, 4.3 percent, occurred in the job category that covers engineers, architects and surveyors.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data culled from 2004 to 2006 showed that seven percent of full-time workers admitted to battling depression in the past year. Women were more likely than men were to have had a major bout of the blues. Younger workers also had higher rates of depression than their older colleagues did.
U.S. companies lose between $30 billion and $44 billion annually because of employee depression, based on the report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Government tracked depression within 21 major occupational categories. The various job categories were broad, with employees grouped in categories such as mathematical and computer scientists; transportation and material moving; legal; and farming, fishing and forestry. Over 15,500 workers were surveyed.
During such episodes of depression, the report notes that there is loss of interest and pleasure, and at least four other symptoms surface, including problems with sleep, eating, energy, concentration and self-image.
But working full time appears to prevent despair as the overall rate of depression for full-time workers is lower at seven percent compared with the 12.7 percent among the unemployed.
