The number of U.S. workers who self-describe as overweight isincreasing, and more employees blame at least part of their girthexpansion on their jobs.

A CareerBuilder annual survey on employee weight, which gotinput from more than 3,000 workers, found that 57 percent of thosesurveyed said they were overweight. That's up from 55 percent lastyear, despite the massive media attention that's been paid to thesubject.

Further, 42 percent said they've put on the pounds on theircurrent job, compared to 39 percent the previous year. And morethan one in five reported gaining more than 10 pounds in the lastyear. Only 16 percent said they'd lost weight.

Many cited the stress of the job as triggering overeating andother bad habits that can lead to greater girth.

“Meaning, workers with extremely high on-the-job stress are 49percent more likely to say they're overweight than workers withextremely low stress,” CareerBuilder reported.

“The health of a company's workforce is a paramount issue formany employers, as neglecting it can significantly dampen workplacemorale and productivity,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief humanresources officer at CareerBuilder. “There's a clear incentive tomake wellness and work-life balance a focus of organizationalculture, and we're encouraged to see many companies making them apriority year-after-year.”