Amid the rise in the number of unemployed people during the pandemic, another crucial problem in the labor market has been largely overlooked: workers are reporting sick this year with record numbers.
Whether it’s because they have Covid-19 themselves, are concerned, or are caring for someone who already has it, the number of employees who missed days on the job doubled during the pandemic.
What’s more, in contrast to the unemployment rate, which has steadily declined from its April peak, absenteeism – as it is called by economists – has remained stubbornly high. Almost 1.8 million workers were absent in November due to illness, nearly as many as April’s record of 2 million, according to labor department data.
Sidelined by illness
A record number of American workers are absent due to illness
Source: US Labor Department
These lost days of work are undermining an economic recovery that has been progressing in fits and starts for much of recent months. While some indicators have improved significantly, others are like retail and consumer spending and incomes have weakened as the pandemic rages and local governments are imposing new restrictions on business and travel.
Michael Gapen, chief US economist at Barclays Plc, said the vaccine could reduce absenteeism by the second quarter. Until then, he said, the missed work will lead to supply chain disruptions.
Sickness absence “can lead to shortages, it can lead to higher prices and reduced production,” said Gapen.
With about 1.5 million new cases per week and deaths at a record rate, employee absenteeism could remain high for some time, especially in early 2021 before vaccines are widely distributed and with the introduction in the US. move slower than government officials expected.
Factory workers
While data from the Labor Department tracks people currently employed in the workforce who are ill, a separate survey by the Census Bureau provides an even broader picture of the challenge. His latest Household Pulse Survey – based on reactions in late November and early December – estimated that more than 11 million people were out of work because of the virus. The numbers also include those who weren’t working because they were concerned about getting or spreading the virus, and those who were caring for someone with symptoms.
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The effects of missing workers are mainly concentrated in manufacturing. According to Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, the industry’s growth potential is being limited, coupled with momentary shutdowns to decontaminate facilities and difficulties in returning and hiring employees.
The gauge of the group’s manufacturing activity grew more slowly in November, with the employment component falling to a level suggestive of contraction.
“It’s not a lack of work,” Fiore said during a recent phone call with reporters, noting the absenteeism, especially for low- to medium-level positions. “It’s a lack of people.”
In addition to temporarily absent workers, the manufacturing sector has 525,000 job vacancies, the highest number in employment records back to 2000.
Auto plants are feeling the effects. General Motors Co. deployed servants on the production floor in August to cope with high levels of absenteeism due to illness with strong demand. Frank Witter, Volkswagen AG’s Chief Financial Officer said a large number of missing employees left the car manufacturer “at times struggling to get all the cars built for customer orders.”
According to the latest Beige Book summary of the Federal Reserve’s economic conditions, US companies have reported that rising cases have accelerated plant closures and fears of infection, adding to labor challenges, including absenteeism and absenteeism. failure. Manufacturers in the Chicago area have been using overtime to make up for the workforce shortage, the December 2 report said.
Sick leave
For office workers, 90% of professionals before the pandemic said they would sometimes go to work sick, according to a 2019 research by employment agency Accountemps. Covid changed the conversation and more employees stay home to protect themselves and others.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act earlier this year made the decision to stay at home easier for some Americans allowing two weeks of paid sick leave for certain employees. The law also allows leave for people who cannot work because they have to take care of a child.
The latest incentive law, signed by President Donald Trump on December 27, includes an extension of the law through March 31, but makes paid time off voluntary for employers rather than mandatory as it was in the first iteration. That could continue the trend of stay-at-home employees, depending on how many employers choose to grant the leave.
However, the law excludes essential workers, meaning those working in facilities such as meat packers cannot take advantage of the policy. That, in turn, can lead to outbreaks in the workplace and further disrupt production.
Read More: Pandemic Begins Hitting US Meat Mills Again
With fewer workers at work, slaughter figures at American meat factories fell in the third quarter. Chief Executive Officer Dean Banks of Tyson Foods Inc. said in a recent earnings call that absenteeism “has increased the costs and complexity of our operations” and that the company expects this to continue into 2021.
– With the help of Henry Ren and Julia Fanzeres