Lost Work From Covid-19 Costs U.S. Employers $78 Billion

Employers lost an estimated $78.4 billion over nearly two years from workers being absent due to Covid-19, a new analysis shows.

Employer losses approached $1 billion a week from Jan. 22, 2020 to Dec. 8, 2021, Oakland-Calif.-based Integrated Benefits Institute, a health and productivity research nonprofit, said.

The assessment analysis presented total economic losses due to Covid-19 covered by employers, rather than just medical costs for employees.

“The true cost of the COVID-19 pandemic to employers is far more than just the expense of workplace sanitization, testing, and masks,” Joseph Aller, director of research and analytics for the IBI, ...