Anxiety and depression are rising among construction workers, highlighting the industry’s mental health crisis, according to a Thursday webinar from CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training tied to Construction Suicide Prevention Week. From 2018 to 2024, reported anxiety among construction workers grew from 12.6% to 18.4%, alongside an uptick in depression as well, from 7.7% to 8%, said Derek Dufoe, research assistant at CPWR. At the same time, the share of workers who said they needed mental health care but could not afford it nearly tripled, from 2% to 5.6%. The findings arrive as construction struggles with one of the highest suicide rates of any industry, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2023 alone, about 5,000 construction worker deaths by suicide and nearly 16,000 overdoses occured, said Amber Trueblood, data center director at CPWR.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/mental-health-crisis-helper-suicide-prevention-week/760058/