At Work
More white-collar workers pulling late-night shifts

Arizona Republic

PHOENIX — Once the milieu of blue-collar workers, the graveyard shift increasingly is being populated by service employees, high-tech professionals and retail workers.

A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study found the number of white-collar employees working evenings or nights rose 11 percent between 1991 and 1997, compared with a 6 percent increase among blue-collar workers.

The growth in 24-hour customer service call centers, all-night grocery stores and pharmacies and high-tech manufacturing facilities has spawned a need for financial planners, electronic engineers and pharmacists who are willing to work the third shift, typically 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. There are even Web sites such as www.circadian.com and nightshift.com that offer support and advice for late-night workers.

The burgeoning technology industry is a big source of night jobs.

Firms such as Sumitomo Sitix and Intel can run their silicon wafer and computer chip plants around the clock and employ thousands of people.

While graveyard shifts allow parents to spend time with their children or adult workers to attend school during the day, there are potential hazards in working nights, including crime, sleep deprivation, marital breakups and overeating.

A recent survey, for instance, found that night workers gained an average of nine pounds during the course of the study, while day workers gained only two pounds.

Studies compiled by the Circadian Learning Center have shown that shift workers, especially those who work nights, can suffer from sleep disorders, fatigue, heart disease, high blood pressure and gastrointestinal upsets.

Digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea, excessive gas, abdominal pain and heartburn are two to three times as common among late-shift workers as day-workers.

Besides physical problems, night work can cause relationship and marital difficulties, according to Harriet Presser, a social demographer at the University of Maryland. Her five-year study of 3,475 couples found that for couples with children, the risk of divorce rises to six times when one of the spouses worked between midnight and 8 a.m.

In relationships without children, however, Presser's study found that non-standard work schedules did not lead to marital instability, indicating that many couples can cope with whatever stress their work schedules generate.