Amid the increase in the ranks of the unemployed during the pandemic, another important problem in the labor market is mostly overlooked: workers are calling out sick in record numbers this year.
Whether it is because they themselves have Covid-19, are worried about getting it or caring for someone who already has it, the number of workers who missed days at work has doubled in the pandemic.
What’s more, in contrast to the jobless rate, which gradually declined from its April peak, absenteeism – as economists call it – has remained stubbornly high. Almost 1.8 million workers were absent due to illness in November, and according to data from the Labor Department, it was almost 2 million in April.
Outlined by Illness
Record numbers of American workers were absent due to illness
Source: US Department of Labor
These lost days of work are a decline in an economic recovery that has been in place for the past few months. Some indicators have improved significantly, but others such as retail sales and consumer spending and revenue have weakened as the pandemic rages and local governments impose new businesses and travel destinations.
Michael Gapen, chief economist in the United States at Barclays Plc, said the vaccine could start to be absent by the second quarter. Until then, he said, the missed work leads to disruptions in the supply chain.
Absence “could lead to shortages, it could lead to higher prices and more limited production,” Gapen said.
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 implementation in the US. moving slower than government officials expected.
Factory workers
While Labor Department data finds people who are currently ill, a separate survey by the Census Bureau is a broader picture of the challenge. The latest household pulse survey – based on answers at the end of November and early December – it is estimated that more than 11 million people did not work due to the virus. The figures also include those who did not want to work because they were worried about getting or spreading the virus, and those who cared about someone with symptoms.
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The effects of missing workers are particularly concentrated in manufacturing. According to Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s production business committee, absenteeism is combined with short-term closures to disinfect facilities and problems returning and hiring workers.
The group’s manufacturing activity grew more slowly in November, with the employment component declining to a level indicating a contraction.
“This is not a lack of work,” Fiore said in a recent call with reporters, saying he was absent especially for low- to medium-skilled roles. “It’s a lack of people.”
In addition to the temporarily absent workers, the manufacturing sector has 525,000 jobs, most in Labor Records up to 2000.
Motor plants feel the effects. General Motors Co hires white-collar workers in August on the production floor to overcome the high absenteeism amid strong demand. Volkswagen AG CFO Frank Witter has According to the high levels of missing staff, the car manufacturer sometimes struggled to get all the cars built for customers’ orders.
U.S. businesses have reported that increasing cases are causing plant closure and anxiety about infections, contributing to labor challenges, including absenteeism and attenuation, according to the latest Federal Reserve summary on the economic conditions of the Federal Reserve. Manufacturers in the Chicago area used overtime on December 2 to make up for the shortage of staff reportedly said.
Sick leave
According to office workers, 90% of professionals before the pandemic said they would sometimes go to work sick, according to a 2019 study by the staffing company Accountemps. Covid has changed the conversation, and more employees are staying home to protect themselves and others.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act made the decision to stay home by some Americans easier this year two weeks paid sick leave for certain employees. The law also allows leave for those who cannot work because they have to look after a child.
The latest stimulus bill, signed by President Donald Trump on Dec. 27, includes an extension of the law through March 31, but makes paid leave voluntary for employers rather than mandatory as in the first iteration. This can keep the trend of workers staying home, depending on how many employers prefer to grant the leave.
However, the law does not exclude essential workers, which means that those who work at facilities such as meat packaging plants cannot make use of the policy. This in turn can lead to outbreaks of the workplace and further disrupt production.
Read more: Pandemic starts hitting American meat plants again
With fewer employees at work, the slaughter rate at American meat plants is fell in the third quarter. Tyson Foods Inc. CEO Dean Banks said in a recent earnings call that absenteeism has increased the cost and complexity of our operations and that the company expects this to continue in 2021.
– Assisted by Henry Ren and Julia Fanzeres