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Which workers smoke?
L A Gaudette1, A Richardson, S Huang
1Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa. lgaudet@statcan.ca
Objectives:
This article examines differences by occupation in daily cigarette smoking prevalence and intensity among full-time workers, and how these differences are associated with smoking restrictions at work.
Data Sources:
Most of the data are from a Health Canada-sponsored Supplement to the 1994/95 National Population Health Survey (NPHS). The analysis is based on 5,674 respondents aged 15 to 64 who were full-time workers at the time of their interview. Comparable information is presented from the 1978/79 Canada Health Survey and the 1986 Labour Force Survey Smoking Supplement.
Main Results:
In 1994/95, 28% of full-time workers were daily smokers, and about a third of them smoked 25 or more cigarettes a day. Smoking prevalence and intensity were lowest among white-collar workers and highest among blue-collar workers. Since 1978/79, there has been an overall decline in smoking prevalence, and since 1986, a decline in smoking intensity among all workers except those in outdoor blue-collar occupations. About 6 in 10 full-time workers who smoked daily encountered restrictions at work.