Australian workers living with long COVID cost the economy, on average, about $9.6 billion in 2022, according to a new study from the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney, the Australian National University (ANU), and the University of Melbourne.
The researchers calculated that Australian adults who could not work, or were forced to work reduced hours, in 2022 because they suffered ongoing COVID-19 symptoms up to a year after their diagnosis, lost about 100 million labour hours – equivalent to an average loss of eight hours per employed person, per year, including both full-time and part-time employment, ANU economist Professor Peter Grafton said.
Australian workers with long COVID who most impacted the economy are aged 30 to 49. They contributed to a loss of 52 million worked hours, or more than half the total labour and productivity lost in 2022, Professor Tom Kompas, from the University of Melbourne, said.
“Our research likely underestimates the economic impact of long COVID because it does not account for losses such as healthy employees who can’t work because they’re caring for others with long COVID,” Professor Grafton said.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2022, between 310,000 and 1.3 million Australians had long COVID, according to the researchers’ model. Of these, some 55,000 were children (aged four and under) who are ineligible for vaccination in Australia.
By December this year, between 173,000 and 873,000 Australians are likely to still have long COVID. (This does not account for reinfections.)
The researchers say governments and policymakers in Australia should make long COVID a public health priority.
“A predominant focus of COVID-19 health policy is prevention of hospitalisation and death from acute COVID-19, with less attention given to long COVID,” Dr Valentina Costantino, from the Kirby Institute, said.
Senior author Professor Raina MacIntyre, also from the Kirby Institute, said: “Widespread COVID-19 infection means that even a small percentage of chronic COVID-related illness and disability will impact population health, especially working adults.
“Coronary heart disease affects about 3 per cent of the population, and is the leading cause of illness and death in Australia and the world. Long COVID is likely to be up there among the leading causes of burden of disease.
“It’s time we considered long COVID in policy decisions, which currently makes it difficult for younger, healthy people to access boosters or antivirals. Widening access will have a better impact on long COVID, as the greatest burden is on working-age adults.
“Other strategies to reduce COVID and thereby long COVID should focus on attention to indoor air quality with improved ventilation.”
The study also highlights the need to better support people living with long COVID and help them manage their condition.
“Financial assistance for long COVID patients, at least for those unable to work because of their symptoms, such as access to a disability pension, would reduce their economic burden,” Professor MacIntyre said.
The research is published in The Medical Journal of Australia.
