Workers’ Compensation Benefits, Employer Costs Rise: Study

Both workers’ compensation benefits paid to insureds and costs for employers increased in 2011, a new study released today revealed.

Total workers’ comp costs to employers rose by 7.1 percent to $77.1 billion, while workers’ comp benefits rose by 3.5 percent to $60.2 billion, reported the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI).

The benefits include a 4.5 percent rise in medical care spending to $29.9 billion and a 2.6 percent rise in wage replacement benefits to $30.3 billion.

“Workers’ compensation often grows with the growth in employment and earnings,” said Marjorie Baldwin, chair of NASI’s Workers’ Compensation Data Panel and Professor of Economics in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. When benefits and costs are measured relative to total covered wages, then benefits remained unchanged, and costs to employers rose very modestly (to $1.27 per $100 of wages) after declining in the previous five years.

Read More: Workers’ Compensation Benefits, Employer Costs Rise: Study.

Join the Conversation on Linkedin | About PEO Compass

The PEO Compass is a friendly convergence of professionals and friends in the PEO industry sharing insights, ideas and intelligence to make us all better.

All writers specialize in Professional Employer Organization (PEO) business services such as Workers Compensation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Data Management, Employment Practices Liability (EPLI), Cyber Liability Insurance, Health Insurance, Occupational Accident Insurance, Business Insurance, Client Company, Casualty Insurance, Disability Insurance and more.

To contact a PEO expert, please visit Libertate Insurance Services, LLC and RiskMD.