Shift Work Statistics 2026: Data, Risks, Industries
Shift work statistics with the latest comparable BLS shift data, 2025 schedule-quality and absence figures, and sourced health and safety evidence.
Diego Cárdenas
Founder of Turnozo
In this article
- 01Quick shift work statistics
- 02What counts as shift work
- 03How many US workers usually work non-day schedules
- 04Industries with the highest non-day schedule shares
- 05What the 2025 schedule-quality data adds
- 062025 absence rates: useful context, not proof of cause
- 07Health and safety evidence
- 08What managers can do with the data
- 09Methodology and source notes
Shift work is not one clean number. The best national US breakdown by usual shift says 16.4% of wage and salary workers worked a non-day schedule, including 3.6% who usually worked nights. Those figures come from BLS data collected in 2017 and 2018, not from a 2026 survey.
A newer 2025 national study measures a different problem: schedule quality. It found that 27% of employees had unpredictable schedules, 28% had unstable weekly hours, and 41% had little or no control over their schedules.
Both datasets matter. They should not be blended into one headline.
Quick shift work statistics
- 16.4% of US wage and salary workers usually worked a non-day schedule in the 2017-2018 BLS release.
- 5.9% usually worked evenings, 3.6% nights, 2.4% rotating shifts, and 2.6% irregular schedules.
- The BLS night-shift share represents about 5.2 million workers when applied to the release's 144.295 million worker denominator.
- 31.9% of workers aged 15 to 24 usually worked non-day schedules, compared with 12.3% of workers aged 35 to 44.
- 36.8% of leisure and hospitality workers usually worked non-day schedules. Transportation and utilities followed at 26.0%, then wholesale and retail trade at 25.4%.
- In 2025, 27% of US employees had unpredictable schedules and 28% had unstable weekly hours, according to the American Job Quality Study.
- The same 2025 study found that 41% had little or no control over their schedules.
- The BLS 2025 absence rate was 3.2% across full-time wage and salary workers. It was 3.8% in health care and social assistance, 3.4% in accommodation and food services, and 2.9% in manufacturing.
Shift Work Data Explorer
Comparable shift prevalence, current schedule quality, 2025 absence rates, and scoped health evidence.
16.4%
usually worked a non-day schedule
BLS wage and salary workers, 2017-2018
Approximate worker counts use the same BLS denominator of 144.295 million. This is the latest comparable official US breakdown by usual shift type.
BLS (2017-2018 shifts; 2025 absence), Gallup American Job Quality Study (2025), NIOSH, Xi et al. (2025), IARC.
What counts as shift work
The numbers change because researchers ask different questions.
| Measure | What it counts | What it misses |
|---|---|---|
| BLS usual shift | The schedule a wage or salary worker usually worked at their sole or main job | Occasional late closes, second jobs, and some weekend work |
| Overnight work | Any work performed during a defined overnight window | Whether nights were the worker's usual schedule |
| Schedule predictability | Whether an employee knew the schedule at least two weeks ahead, unless they controlled it | Whether the work happened during daytime or nighttime |
| Schedule stability | Whether weekly hours varied by more than 25% over a month, unless the employee chose the variation | The shift type and time of day |
| Schedule control | Whether the employee could influence hours, days, or time off | Advance notice and weekly-hour volatility on their own |
This is why a 3.6% night-shift figure and a 27% schedule-unpredictability figure can both be true. They describe different exposures.
How many US workers usually work non-day schedules
The BLS 2017-2018 Job Flexibilities and Work Schedules release remains the latest comparable official national breakdown by usual shift type. BLS has not published a newer equivalent table, so the collection period belongs next to every figure.
| Usual schedule | Share of workers | Approximate workers using the BLS denominator |
|---|---|---|
| Regular daytime | 83.6% | 120.6 million |
| Evening | 5.9% | 8.5 million |
| Night | 3.6% | 5.2 million |
| Rotating | 2.4% | 3.5 million |
| Irregular | 2.6% | 3.8 million |
| Split shift | 0.7% | 1.0 million |
| Other | 1.2% | 1.7 million |
Source: BLS Table 7, workers by shift usually worked. Counts are the published percentages applied to 144.295 million workers and rounded to the nearest 100,000.
Using the published shares against one denominator avoids mixing rounded category estimates and keeps the table internally consistent.
Industries with the highest non-day schedule shares
The same BLS table shows where non-day work was concentrated. These are industry shares, not current headcounts and not absence rates.
| Industry | Non-day schedule share | Evening | Night | Rotating | Irregular |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leisure and hospitality | 36.8% | 19.3% | 2.6% | 4.8% | 7.1% |
| Transportation and utilities | 26.0% | 4.0% | 6.3% | 4.3% | 6.1% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 25.4% | 9.7% | 5.1% | 5.2% | 2.3% |
| Manufacturing | 16.1% | 6.1% | 5.7% | 1.8% | 0.8% |
| Education and health services | 14.2% | 4.9% | 4.3% | 1.4% | 2.3% |
The practical mix differs by sector. Leisure and hospitality carries more evening and irregular work. Transportation has a larger night and rotating component. Manufacturing splits more heavily between evenings and nights. A single "shift-worker rate" hides those operating differences.
For the scheduling side, see the guides to night shift scheduling, rotating schedules, and healthcare shift scheduling.
What the 2025 schedule-quality data adds
The American Job Quality Study gives a more current view of predictability, stability, and employee control.
Gallup surveyed 18,429 US adults aged 18 to 75 who had worked for pay in the previous seven days. The schedule findings in its June 2025 article use the 15,968 respondents who worked for an employer. Surveys ran from January 13 to February 25, 2025, and the reported margin of sampling error was plus or minus 1 percentage point.
| Schedule-quality measure | 2025 result | Study definition |
|---|---|---|
| Unpredictable schedule | 27% | Schedule not known at least two weeks ahead, unless the employee had substantial control |
| Unstable schedule | 28% | Weekly hours varied by more than 25% across a month, unless the employee chose the variation |
| Little or no schedule control | 41% | Employee lacked input into at least two of hours, workdays, or short personal time off |
| Low-quality schedule overall | 27% | No schedule control plus a lack of predictability or stability |
This is current evidence about how schedules are managed. It does not replace the BLS shift-type table because it does not separate day, evening, night, and rotating work.
2025 absence rates: useful context, not proof of cause
BLS Table 47 now reports 2025 annual averages. The table covers full-time wage and salary workers and separates occupation from industry. It does not say that shift work caused an absence.
| BLS category | Category type | 2025 absence rate |
|---|---|---|
| Total employed | All covered workers | 3.2% |
| Health care and social assistance | Industry | 3.8% |
| Accommodation and food services | Industry | 3.4% |
| Retail trade | Industry | 3.4% |
| Transportation and warehousing | Industry | 3.1% |
| Manufacturing | Industry | 2.9% |
| Healthcare practitioners and technical | Occupation | 3.7% |
| Healthcare support | Occupation | 4.1% |
| Transportation and material moving | Occupation | 3.4% |
Source: BLS Table 47, Absences from work of employed full-time wage and salary workers by occupation and industry, 2025. BLS notes that 2025 excludes October because survey data were unavailable during the federal government shutdown. The figures are 11-month averages and are not strictly comparable with other annual averages.
The distinction matters. "Healthcare support" is an occupation; "health care and social assistance" is an industry. Mixing those rows produces comparisons that look precise but are not comparable.
Health and safety evidence
The strongest claims concern night work and circadian disruption. They are associations across populations, not a prediction for every individual worker.
Cardiovascular risk
A 2025 systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis included 23 cohort studies. It reported that night-shift work was associated with:
- 13% higher relative risk of total cardiovascular events (RR 1.13, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.16)
- 27% higher relative risk of cardiovascular mortality (RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.36)
Relative risk is not absolute risk, and observational cohort evidence does not prove that night work alone caused each outcome.
Accidents and errors
A NIOSH training resource on shift work, long hours, and fatigue reports that, compared with regular day shifts starting after 7 a.m., the combined risk of accidents and errors rises by 28% on night shifts and 15% on evening shifts.
Those estimates support a narrow conclusion: working time affects safety risk. They do not support assigning a universal dollar cost per worker or a fixed error count to every shift.
Cancer classification
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies night shift work as probably carcinogenic to humans, Group 2A. IARC based that classification on limited evidence in humans, sufficient evidence in experimental animals, and strong mechanistic evidence in experimental animals.
"Probably carcinogenic" is a hazard classification. It does not state the probability that one worker will develop cancer.
What managers can do with the data
The evidence does not produce one perfect rotation. It does point to a useful operating checklist:
- Publish schedules early enough for employees to plan around them.
- Track how much weekly hours move, not only whether every shift is filled.
- Give employees a clear way to state availability and request changes.
- Review night work, long shifts, overtime, and short recovery windows together.
- Keep schedule changes and worked hours in the same system so the final record matches reality.
If absence is creating repeat overtime, use the overtime reduction guide. If the issue is exhaustion rather than raw coverage, the employee burnout statistics page separates workload, recovery, and retention evidence.
Methodology and source notes
- Shift prevalence: BLS Table 7, collected in 2017 and 2018 and released in 2019. Percentages describe the usual shift at a worker's sole or main job.
- Worker estimates: each BLS share was applied to the same published denominator of 144.295 million wage and salary workers. Results were rounded to the nearest 100,000.
- Schedule quality: Gallup's American Job Quality Study fielded January 13 to February 25, 2025. Its schedule article uses 15,968 employees and a nationally weighted design.
- Absence: BLS Table 47, 2025 estimates for full-time wage and salary workers. The figures exclude October, use 11 months of data, and are not strictly comparable with other annual averages. Industry and occupation rows remain separate.
- Health: the page uses study-specific effect sizes and identifies whether evidence concerns night work, all shift work, or a safety comparison.
We checked for a newer official BLS table with the same usual-shift categories before retaining the 2017-2018 figures. No newer equivalent release was available. Keeping an older, clearly dated national measure is safer than presenting a newer survey with a different definition as though it were the same statistic.
Last reviewed: July 29, 2026.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
BLS found that 16.4% of US wage and salary workers at their sole or main job usually worked a non-day schedule in 2017-2018. That included 5.9% on evening shifts, 3.6% on night shifts, 2.4% on rotating shifts, 2.6% on irregular schedules, 0.7% on split shifts, and 1.2% on other schedules. This remains the latest comparable official BLS national breakdown by usual shift type.
BLS counted 144.295 million wage and salary workers in its 2017-2018 shift table. Applying the published 3.6% night-shift share gives about 5.2 million workers. That estimate covers people who usually worked nights at their sole or main job, not everyone who occasionally worked overnight.
In the 2025 American Job Quality Study, 27% of US employees had unpredictable schedules, 28% had unstable weekly hours, and 41% had little or no control over their schedules. Gallup based the article findings on 15,968 employees surveyed from January 13 to February 25, 2025.
Night work is associated with higher health and safety risks, but the size of the risk depends on exposure and study design. A 2025 meta-analysis of 23 cohort studies reported a 13% higher relative risk of total cardiovascular events among night-shift workers. IARC classifies night shift work as probably carcinogenic to humans, Group 2A, based on limited human evidence plus animal and mechanistic evidence.
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