The Moody Blues Depressed workers bring the whole company down, so get them the help they need.

Entrepreneurs who run bars, restaurants and child-care or elder-care businesses have a new worry: depression. Their employees are more likely than those in other fields to get depressed enough to hurt productivity, boost absenteeism and deflate morale, according to a 2007 government study. And we're not talking about a bluesy afternoon: A major depressive episode, as the 2007 "National Survey on Drug Use and Health" defines it, lasts two weeks or longer and involves a depressed mood, a general lack of interest and possible problems with sleep, eating, concentration and productivity. The annual cost to U.S. companies is $30 billion to $44 billion, according to the study.

Seven percent of full-time employees--8.1 million workers--reported major depression in the previous year. Personal-care and food and beverage workers were most likely to experience it; they constituted 10.8 percent and 10.3 percent of reported cases, respectively. Women were more susceptible than men, and part-timers were at higher risk than full-time workers. Employees age 18 to 25 were most likely to experience depressive illness.