Workers’ Compensation

The 26th annual workers’ compensation report produced by the Academy provides the only comprehensive data on workers’ compensation benefits, coverage, and employer costs for the nation, the states, the District of Columbia, and federal programs. With a five-year study period spanning 2017-2021, this is the second annual report to cover the COVID-19 pandemic period, which permits an early understanding of the adaptation of workers’ compensation to the pandemic and general reversions to pre-pandemic trends. The report includes 19 tables, 7 figures, and 5 appendices detailing outcomes related to workers’ compensation benefits, costs, and coverage.

The 25^th annual workers’ compensation report produced by the Academy provides the only comprehensive data on workers’ compensation benefits, coverage, and employer costs for the nation, the states, the District of Columbia, and federal programs. This is the first annual report to include data reflecting the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a five-year study period from 2016 to 2020. The report includes 19 tables, 7 figures, and 5 appendices detailing outcomes related to workers’ compensation benefits, costs, and coverage.

The 24^th annual report provides the only comprehensive data on workers’ compensation benefits, coverage, and employer costs for the nation, the states, the District of Columbia, and federal programs over a five-year study period of 2015 – 2019.

The U.S. workers’ compensation system in its current form is complex, opaque and fragmented. Unlike other social insurance programs, it is wholly administered at the state level, and there is neither federal oversight nor any federal mandate that sets out minimum standards.

The online discussion was anchored by several brief presentations on each area, with a Q&A moderated by Bill Arnone, Chief Executive Officer. Participants contributed questions throughout the webinar.

This Workers’ Compensation Issue Spotlight explains how the federal Black Lung Program provides benefits to workers with a variety of debilitating lung conditions resulting from work in coal mines. The brief explores the forces driving increases in rates of black lung, why benefits are declining, and the Program’s financial challenges.

Fifty years after the bipartisan Commission’s report revealed 19 high-priority policy suggestions, including potential federal intervention, state WC laws remain weak and disparate.

This issue brief examines the relationship between work injuries, workers’ compensation, and opioid-related overdose deaths.

Workers’ compensation experts have expressed concern in recent years about the impact of decades of state cost-cutting measures and resulting uneven and increasingly inadequate benefits for injured workers.[1] Indeed, a ProPublica investigation reveals the steep decline in compensation for disabling injuries, including cutting off benefits long before many workers have recovered and refusing coverage for necessary aspects of care:

The U.S. workers’ compensation system in its current form is complex, opaque and fragmented. Unlike other social insurance programs, it is wholly administered at the state level, and there is neither federal oversight nor any federal mandate that sets out minimum standards.

States’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to workers’ compensation policy will likely prove an important factor in providing critical support to workers while protecting employers from liability.

Over the past ten years, Ohio has experienced a larger decrease in Workers’ Compensation benefits per $100 of payroll than all but one other state.

In 2003, Florida passed sweeping changes to workers’ compensation laws. These changes led to both reductions in employee benefits and improved conditions for insurance carriers, trends that largely continue through 2013-2017, the period studied for this year’s report on Workers’ Compensation Benefits, Costs, and Coverage.