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Study: Low Pay, Annoying Co-Workers Top Job Stress Factors

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — It's National Stress Awareness Month, but if you're at work, you probably can't tell the difference between April and the other eleven months of the year.

That's because a new study shows over three-fourths of the U.S. workforce is stressed out by at least one thing at their job, with anxiety even reaching the youngest working Americans.

In the 2011 Work Stress Survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Everest College of nearly 1,000 adults, 77 percent of U.S. workers said their job was stressful in some way, with 14 percent citing low pay as the most stressful aspect, followed by commuting (11 percent), job security (9 percent), and annoying coworkers (8 percent).

Wendy Cullen, VP of employer development at Everest College, tells KFWB 980's Maggie McKay that money makes all the difference when it comes to what's worrying employees.

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"We've seen numerous surveys that confirm workplace stress has increased during the last several years, and this time we wanted to rank from top to bottom some of the root causes," said Cullen. "Most employers are becoming well aware of the need to address rising employee stress, and those who don't address it are likely to suffer lower morale and productivity."

Young people ages 18-34 also say their paltry paychecks and irritating colleagues are the top stress factors, along with poor work-life balance (five percent) and lack of opportunity for advancement (4 percent)

A blissful 21 percent said there was no aspect about their jobs that stress them out, while married people were less stressed than single workers (24 percent compared with 14 percent)

National Stress Awareness Month comes every April, when health care professionals throughout the nation join forces to increase public awareness about the causes and cures for the modern stress epidemic.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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