Study: Obesity Rates Highest Among Transportation Workers
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A new Gallup survey weighs in on 14-occupational groups, and the jobs that have the most obese workers.
Transportation workers have the highest obesity rate, at more than 36 percent, followed by manufacturing and production workers at 30 percent.
No wonder, according to Transport Workers' Union Local 234 President John Johnson Jr. He says SEPTA bus operators are sitting most of the time and unable to move around.
"They cannot eat while they're operating the vehicle. And most of the time, when they get to the end of the line, when it comes to food, they might have two or three minutes, so they're pretty much going to scarf it down."
Gallup interviewed more than 139,000 American workers, and found that by far, physicians have the lowest obesity rate, at just 14 percent.
Business owners are next, at 20 percent, followed by teachers at 21 percent, sales at 23 percent, service workers at just under 26 percent and officer workers at just below 27 percent.
All told, Gallup finds one in four U.S. workers is obese, defined as having a Body Mass Index of 30 or higher.
