Working Canadians feel most distressed by jobs with long hours or too many demands, according to a telephone survey of about 25,000 people.

But job security is now less of a concern.

These conclusions, reported in the article "Sources of workplace stress" in the online edition of "Perspectives on Labour and Income," are based on the General Social Survey, an annual telephone survey covering about 25,000 people aged 15 and over.

Managers and professionals were significantly more likely than workers in primary industries to report stress from too many demands or hours. Holding other factors constant, employees in health occupations were about seven times more likely than employees in management, business, finance or science occupations to cite fear of accident or injury.

Men were less likely than women to feel stress as a result of too many hours or demands, but were 1.3 times more likely to feel stress from fear of accident or injury.

Many employers have implemented employee assistance programs to address the human and financial costs associated with stress. The 1999 Workplace and Employee Survey found that 26 percent of employees had access to such programs.