U.S. Workers’ Compensation Claims Decline Amid Unemployment

Workers’ compensation claims declined last year, extending a slide that began in 1991, as improving job conditions and higher unemployment reduced accident frequency, preliminary insurance-industry data show. Claim frequency fell 4 percent in 2009 after a 3.4 percent drop in 2008, the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. said in a statement on its website. The claims rate dropped in all industries and geographic regions, Boca Raton, Florida- based NCCI said.