Long COVID cost the Australian economy almost $10 billion in 2022, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University (ANU) and UNSW Sydney have calculated the number of lost labour hours of Australian adults who were unable to work, or were forced to work reduced hours, in 2022, because they were experiencing ongoing COVID-19 symptoms up to 12 months after their initial diagnosis.
ANU Professor Quentin Grafton said at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2022, up to 1.3 million Australians were estimated to be living with long COVID.
Professor Grafton said the health and economic burden of long COVID in Australia was significant, especially on working adults.
“Workers experiencing ongoing COVID-19 symptoms months after their initial diagnosis resulted in, on average, about 100 million lost labour hours in 2022,” he said.
“We estimate this equates to economy-wide losses, on average, of about $9.6 billion in 2022, or one-quarter of Australia’s real gross domestic product growth that year.”
He said this did not account for other losses such as healthy employees who couldn’t work because they were caring for others with long COVID.
University of Melbourne Professor Tom Kompas said the age bracket of Australian workers who were impacting the economy the most was those aged 30 to 49.
“Workers in that age bracket contributed to a loss of 52 million worked hours, or more than 50 percent of the total labour and productivity lost in 2022,” Professor Kompas said.
He said governments and policymakers should place a greater emphasis on long COVID as a public health priority.
Dr Valentina Costantino, from UNSW, said it was estimated that by December this year, there could be up to 873,000 Australians still living with long COVID, 12 months after they were first infected.
