About 16 million working-age Americans have long-term Covid and 2-4 million are out of work because of its ill effects, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.
Employers have complained of labor shortages throughout the pandemic, and the analysis of data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, which collects data from Americans through a survey on education, employment, health and housing, suggests one possible reason for the lack of workers.
The report found that about 16 million Americans between 18 and 65 have long Covid. Of these people, who are considered of working age, they estimate that 2 to 4 million are out of work because of their symptoms.
Brookings estimates that there are currently 10.6m unfilled jobs. The report estimates the dollar amount of the lost wages is between $170bn and $230bn a year.
Long Covid, defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as Covid-related symptoms that last three or more months after first contracting the virus, has turned out to be a complicated beast. It is hard to track and study as symptoms can vary from individual to individual. Symptoms can range from gastrointestinal issues to nerve pain and fatigue.
The CDC in June estimated that nearly one in five American adults who had Covid-19 still have long Covid symptoms. Overall, one in 13 adults in the US – about 7.5% of the population – have long Covid.
Other countries have reported similar problems with long Covid affecting employment. In a May speech, a Bank of England representative attributed the workforce shrinking by 440,000 largely to “increases in long-term sickness”.
Estimates say the US workforce has decreased by between 3 million and 3.5 million people over the course of the pandemic.
The report noted that addressing long Covid’s impact on the workforce will entail policy measures like expanded paid sick leave and better employer accommodations. Over 25% of private sector workers do not have any form of paid sick leave. Of those in the bottom 25% of earners, over half do not have access to paid sick leave. Some workers have reported being fired for taking sick leave.
