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The impact of occupational injury reduction on the U.S. economy
Author(s) -
Zaloshnja Eduard,
Miller Ted R.,
Waehrer Geetha
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20353
Subject(s) - gross domestic product , medicine , occupational injury , occupational safety and health , product (mathematics) , economic impact analysis , injury prevention , demographic economics , economics , poison control , environmental health , economic growth , geometry , mathematics , pathology , microeconomics
Background Preventing occupational injuries reduces labor and fringe benefit costs to employers. The related savings filter through the economy, impacting its performance. This study is a first attempt to measure the impact of occupational injury reduction on national economic output, gross domestic product, national income, and employment by using an input–output model of the U.S. economy. Methods Occupational injury costs by industry for 1993 were used as a baseline for an input–output model, and the impact of the 38% injury rate reduction between 1993 and 2002 was measured. All computations are in year 2000 dollars. Results Declining occupational injury between 1993 and 2002 increased employment by an estimated 550,000 jobs. The increase in gross domestic product (GDP) was $25.5 billion or 9% of the average annual GDP increase from 1993 to 2002. Conclusions These estimates represent the benefits of injury rate reduction but ignore associated prevention costs. Am. J. Ind. Med. 49:719–727, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.