Lost Hours and Costs Attributed to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on employee productivity and economic cost. The Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI), a nonprofit research and educational organization focused on workforce health and productivity, analyzed data from the US Current Population Survey (CPS) to estimate the number of lost hours attributed to the pandemic, and the cost associated with the loss of work hours.

IBI’s analysis estimates that the cost associated with the loss of work hours is $213.1 billion ($167.4 billion in the first year and $45.7 billion in the second year). The number of lost hours attributed to the pandemic was 6.6 billion hours (5.2 billion in the first year and 1.4 billion in the second year).

Some occupations and industries were particularly hard hit. The top 5 industries that faced the greatest economic losses were: educational services, health care, and social assistance ($30.8 billion), public administration ($27.1 billion), construction ($23.9 billion), waste management services ($22.4 billion), and manufacturing ($21.5 billion).