More workers at new jobs will likely cause a slight uptick in workers compensation claims frequency, and higher wages are affecting indemnity payments, according to an economic impact report released Thursday by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute.
Researchers with the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute compared claims data from 2016 to 2021 against recent economic trends, including disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, to analyze how changes affected the workers compensation system.
High rates of job turnover — a key economic factor highlighted in the report— are contributing to a faster occurrence of work-related injuries during an employee’s tenure, as the researchers found that 50.4% of all injuries occur within a worker’s first two years on the job, with 35.8% occurring in the first year, according to WCRI.
Rising wages in the tight labor market have accounted for increases in the average indemnity payment for injured workers, to varying degrees. The report showed that an average weekly wage increase of $100 accounted for a 5.4% increase in indemnity payments overall.