Cost Of Workers’ Compensation In US Falling, But Coverage Is On Its Way Up

The cost of workers’ compensation in the United States is steadily dropping, even as the coverage it provides appears to be rising. The Workers’ Compensation Benefits, Costs, and Coverage report examined data from 2018, comparing it with updated data for 2014 through 2017.

This was conducted by the National Academy of Social insurance and the data is publicly available. This is the 23rd consecutive year for the report on the cost of workers’ compensation.

This report offers consistent data for researchers and others in the industry. It will be of particular importance in 2020 while contextualizing the pandemic’s impact.

“The current worldwide pandemic has reinforced the importance of social insurance systems like unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. We have also witnessed the spread of COVID-19 through workplaces as different as healthcare and meatpacking. Although this publication reports on a pre-pandemic world, it can provide context for thinking about the role of workers’ compensation systems as the world changes around us,” said Chair of the report’s Data Panel, Les Boden, the professor of public health at Boston University.

The five-year cost of workers’ compensation study’s key trends closely reflect those of prior reports.