The number of workers covered by workers' compensation hit a new low when the figure fell by 4.4 percent in 2009, the largest decline in two decades, according to a report by the National Academy of Social Insurance.
The report also reveals that benefits costs dropped by 7.6 percent to $73.9 billion in 2009, which is the most current year with complete data, indicating the overall decline in employment.
"As one might expect, when the Great Recession hit, employers paid less in workers' compensation costs because there were fewer workers to cover," says John F. Burton Jr., chair of the panel that oversees the report. "Although the drop in employer costs represents the biggest decrease in the last two decades, benefits increased slightly by 0.4 percent to $58.3 billion, reflecting in part benefits provided in 2009 to workers injured in prior years."
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Benefits paid to employees on workers' compensation in 2009 increased in 23 states as well as the District of Columbia, though the figure decreased in the other 27 states, compared to the preceding year. Medical care payments fell by 1.1 percent to $28.9 billion for the first time in a decade; however, they still account for approximately half of total workers' compensation benefits. In total, employers paid $73.9 billion for workers' compensation across the nation, which cost $1.30 per $100 of payroll for the lowest amount in the last thirty years.
| Workers' Compensation Benefits, Coverage, and Costs 2009 | |||
| Aggregate Amounts | 2009 | Change In Percent | |
| Covered workers (in thousands) | 124,856 | -4.4 | |
| Covered wages (in billions) | $5,675 | -4.7 | |
| Workers' compensation benefits paid (in billions) | $58.3 | 0.4 | |
| Medical benefits | 28.9 | -1.1 | |
| Cash benefits | 29.4 | 1.9 | |
| Share of medical benefits in total | 50% | -1.5 | |
| Employer costs | $73.9 | -7.6 | |
| Amount per $100 of Covered Wages | Change In Amount | ||
| Benefits paid | $1.03 | $0.05 |
| Medical payments | 0.51 | 0.02 |
| Cash payments to workers | 0.52 | 0.04 |
| Employer costs | 1.30 | -0.04 |
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