America’s workforce is enormous — and so is its injury burden. With 170.78 million Americans working or seeking work as of August 2025, the U.S. economy relies on people showing up, clocking in, lifting, driving, serving, building, caring, and producing. Yet behind that daily output is a workplace safety reality that remains impossible to ignore: in 2023, employers reported 2.6 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses, and 946,500 cases required workers to take days off to recover.
This study from The Schiller Kessler Group shows that workplace injuries follow clear patterns across industry, state, age, and gender, and that preventing them requires solutions that match the real risk map, not outdated assumptions.
Start with the most important truth in the data: the jobs that carry society tend to carry the injuries, too. The single worst-hit industry in 2023 was health care and social assistance, reporting 562,500 injuries and illnesses. This is not just a statistic; it’s a warning sign about an exhausted workforce where patient handling, constant movement, long shifts, and physical strain make injury risk a routine part of the job. Many of these injuries involve overexertion, sprains, strains, and burnout-like physical breakdown from doing too much, too often, with too little recovery.
Behind healthcare came manufacturing (355,800 cases) and retail trade (353,900). Manufacturing injuries frequently involve contact with objects or equipment, being struck, caught, or strained by repetitive motion, and exposure to machinery exposure. Retail injuries often stem from slips, trips, falls, and overexertion from stocking and lifting in fast-paced environments, especially when staffing is thin and customer demand is high.
Transportation and warehousing posted 279,800 cases, reflecting hazards that range from loading injuries to transport incidents, falls, and strain from repetitive heavy handling. Accommodation and food services recorded 247,200 cases, where burns, cuts, and slips are common in crowded kitchens and high-speed service spaces. Even construction (167,700) and administrative and waste services (149,700) remain major injury contributors due to physical intensity, outdoor risk, vehicle exposure, and hazardous materials.
What makes this study especially revealing is how it links injury patterns to body mechanics. National Safety Council data shows that upper extremities are the most injured body region (36%), which makes sense when you consider how often workers grip, lift, push, pull, cut, type, twist, and operate tools. Hands, wrists, and shoulders become the first point of failure in repetitive jobs and the first point of contact in machinery or tool-related incidents. Next comes the trunk/back (24%), a signature injury area tied to lifting, awkward posture, and inadequate ergonomics. Lower extremities (21%) reflect the constant danger of slick floors, stairs, ladders, uneven surfaces, and long-standing or walking-heavy workdays.
The demographic patterns matter, too. Injuries occur most often among workers aged 25 to 54, accounting for 60% of all reported cases, largely because this group is most represented in the workforce and most likely to be engaged in high-output roles. Workers aged 20 to 24 show elevated injury rates, often tied to inexperience and entry-level physical assignments. Workers 55 and older are injured less frequently but tend to face longer recovery times and more severe outcomes.
Gender differences add another layer. Men account for a slightly higher share of workplace injuries overall, in part because they are overrepresented in high-risk industries like transportation, construction, and production. Women, however, are more often injured in service, education, and health care occupations, driven by exposure risks, repetitive strain, slips and trips, and patient-handling demands. The recovery pattern also diverges: men experience more severe injuries requiring 31+ days away, while women often have shorter median recovery time but higher rates of exposure- and workplace-violence-related injury in care environments.
Geography reveals where risk is most concentrated. States with heavy manual-labor economies post the highest injury rates. Oregon leads with 1,073 injuries per 100,000 residents, followed by Washington (1,026) and California (930). Several Midwestern states — including Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio — also rank among the worst, reflecting persistent industrial and manufacturing hazards. New York appears in the top tier due to its huge healthcare and service workforce.
Finally, the study highlights a predictable annual danger zone: the holiday retail surge. During peak shopping season, overtime, temporary hiring, fatigue, and rushed handling increase risk in retail, warehousing, and transportation. Injury rates may rise up to 15% during this period in some sectors, especially in major logistics hubs.
With workplace injuries costing over $167 billion annually, about $1.2 million per hour, prevention isn’t just the ethical move; it’s the economic one. Reducing injuries means investing in ergonomic design, automation, staffing strategies that limit fatigue, and safety programs tailored to each industry’s real hazards.
