Workforce Demographics Changing Workers Compensation Trends
The workforce is changing, and risk and claims managers are addressing these changes for Workers Compensation safety and injuries.
A new National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) report analyzes the workforce for several factors including age, gender, industry sector and frequency of accidents. Among the key finding are:
- Younger workers are getting injured less often than their older peers, resulting in a major shift in relative rates
- The gender gap in frequency is narrower due to injury rates falling faster for men than for women
- Frequency decline is driven mainly by lower incidence rates for all workers, not demographic shifts
- Workforce aging has had almost no effect on frequency decline
The report details that the workforce has added a significant number of older workers. The number of workers who are at least 55 years old has doubled since 2000, even as the number of workers under 55 has been stable. There have been changes in gender composition and sector mix of workers as well. Women now make up 47% of the labor force. The share of service sector employment is near record highs.
From our data, we have seen injuries to older workers reflecting higher direct and indirect loss costs to claim portfolios. Compliance requirements including Section 111 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (MMSEA), Medicare Conditional Payment Liens, and Medicare Set Asides (MSAs) are becoming more prevalent due to injuries of older workers.
To read the new report packed with insights for risk, claim and other corporate governance functions, please click here >>
To learn more about how our innovative risk and claim management solutions are saving clients millions of dollars each year, contact Robert J. Blackburn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 585-586-4530.
By Robert J. Blackburn, Managing Principal, Blackburn Group, Inc., contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..