CareerCast's new survey of over 1,000 readers found that 71% have higher than moderate stress in the workplace. Respondents were asked to rate their job stress levels on a scale of 0 to 10 – with 0 denoting no stress, and 10 signifying constant stress. A stress score of 7 or higher was indicated by 71% of respondents.

Employees were asked what was the biggest contributing factor to their stress and the survey found that the most common cause was deadlines (30%). The second most common cause of work stress was being responsible for the lives of others (17%), followed by competitiveness (10.2%), and physical demands (8.4%).

Remarkably, those in education reported higher stress levels than healthcare workers. 88.9% of education employees had a stress score of 7 or higher, while 69% of healthcare workers reported the same stress levels. In customer service, 78% of respondents in the industry ranked their stress levels at 7 or higher. Public Safety workers and those in the Entertainment industry were the most stressed at work (91% had stress levels of 7 or more), and IT workers were the least stressed (50%reported stress levels higher than 7).

The average American working a full-time job spends 47 hours per week at work. 84% of survey respondents are employed full-time, which means they are spending almost 40% of their waking hours facing stress on the job. Factoring in seven hours of sleep per night, that's a long time to be under a lot of stress.

Stress can be enough to force some employees out of their jobs altogether. Almost 59% of survey respondents said they would leave their profession if they could. However, training for a new career and attaining the same level of education would leave these same workers starting over from scratch.

"There isn't much you can do about reducing stress if you are on the front lines and responsible for the lives of others aside from changing careers," says Kyle Kensing, Online Content Editor, CareerCast. "However, if deadlines are causing undue stress at work, ask your supervisor for additional resources to help with the project or find out if timelines can be relaxed to find some relief."

Top Causes of Stress:

1. Deadlines (30%)

2. Life of Another at Risk (17%)

3. Competitiveness (10%)

4. Physical Demands (8%)

5. Working in the Public Eye (8%)

6. Growth Potential (7%)

7. Life at Risk (7%)

8. Hazards Encountered (5%)

9. Meeting the Public (4%)

10. Travel (3%)

11. Environmental Conditions (2%)