Workplace suicides in 2009 matched the record-high level they hit in 2008, according to final data released this week by the US Labor Department.The number of workplace suicides workers who took their own life while on the job reached 263 in 2009, the same number as in the prior year. In 2007, there were 196 such suicides. The data go back to 1992.Overall, there were 34,598 deaths from suicide in the US in 2007, according to the most recent data available from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.The vast majority of workplace suicides were among men. Among wage and salary workers, suicides fell 11 to 184 in 2009. Meanwhile, suicides among the self-employed rose 11 to a record 79.“The self-employed are both the business owner and the worker, so they may have more connection to the work,” said Jim Rice, an economist with the occupational safety and health statistics programme at the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.Self-employed workers also may be more isolated, said Randy Martin, a licensed psychologist and director of clinical services for Harris, Rothenberg International, a New York-based provider of employee counselling, among other services.“I would speculate that the self-employed often have less of a social support network and less job stability, and the social support that one receives from coworkers and managers serves as a significant protective factor. More isolated workers are more at risk for suicide,” Martin said.During economic recessions the overall suicide rate generally rises, and it falls during expansions, according to a recently released CDC study. The study, which focused on data from 1928 to 2007, also found that the association was strongest among those of prime working age between 25- and 64-years old.“This may be partly explained by the fact that many of those people were breadwinners in their homes, and their jobs supported mortgage payments, health insurance, children’s education, and other expenses. Therefore, job loss may cause more hardships to those people than to others,” according to the CDC report.Suicidal behaviour can result from an interaction of several factors, such as substance abuse, troubled personal relationships or financial issues, said Dr Alexander Crosby, who contributed to the CDC report.