Current Cigarette Smoking Prevalence Among Working Adults—United States, 2004–2010

September 30, 2011 / Vol. 60 / No. 38

MMWR Introduction

There are large disparities in smoking prevalence among American adults across industry and occupation groups. Smoking is lowest in the education services industry (9.7%) and highest in the mining and food services industries (30.0%). Similar results were found when looking at individuals' occupations. By occupation, smoking is lowest among adults with education, training and library jobs (8.7%) and highest among those in construction and extraction jobs (31.4%).

Effective employer interventions are available to reduce smoking, including 100% smoke-free workplace policies, easily accessible help for those who want to quit, and health insurance with little or no co-payment for cessation treatments. These interventions can improve employee health, decrease absenteeism, and reduce utilization of health care resources.