An aging workforce means more short-term disability lost work time in the long run

An analysis of short-term disability (STD) claims in IBI’s Health and Productivity Benchmarking database projects that given the combination of an aging workforce, a higher than average rate of short-term disability (STD) claims among older workers, and higher than average lost workdays among older STD claimants, non-pregnancy disability lost work time will grow by about 9% between 2012 and 2022, compared to only 5% growth in the labor force overall.

Brian Gifford, IBI’s Director of Research and Measurement, presented these findings at AcademyHealth’s Disability Research Interest Group meeting, June 7, 2014 in San Diego, CA. The talk, “Short-Term Work Disability Leaves Among Older Workers,” updated a previous IBI publication showing patterns of disability leaves among workers of different age groups.

AcademyHealth is the leading association of health services researchers. The Disability Research Interest Group meeting was sponsored by the U.S. Veterans Administration (Spinal Cord Injury Quality Enhancement Research Initiative) and Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.