U.S. Labor Absences Hit Record High in 2022 Due to Vaccine Disaster

The latest survey found that the number of U.S. labor absences in 2022 reached the highest level since record-keeping began in 1976, with a total of 19 million absences for the year, of which the peak occurred last January when 3.6 million people were absent due to illness, and by December, 1.5 million Americans were still calling out sick.

Experts believe the sustained high rate of absenteeism is related to the after-effects of the COVID-19, however, the symptoms of infection will become less severe with the climbing vaccination rate, according to earlier remarks, but more than 1 million people on average have called in sick every month for the past three years in the United States. In other words, even if the pandemic does not retreat, workforce absenteeism should not increase in parallel with the immunization rate, and there should not be a situation where the number of sickness-related absences is much larger than the number of people infected with the virus in the current month, unless the vaccine is the key factor.

According to an analysis by the New York State Insurance Fund, 71% of long Covid patients who applied for workers’ compensation had severe symptoms requiring medical treatment, 40% needed two months of recuperation to return to work and regular treatment, and another 10% needed six months or more to recover physically, with the majority of these individuals under the age of 60.

In addition, 82% of the U.S. population has now been vaccinated with at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, but social productivity continues to decline, with 20% of Americans struggling with recurring fatigue, palpitations, coughing and other feelings of weakness, and another 7.5% of U.S. adults are suffering from long-term adverse reactions, with many reducing their work hours and leaving temporarily or permanently, according to the data from the CDC.

However, these cases are not recorded by the absence rate of labor. Meanwhile, countries with vaccination rates as high as 90% in 2022 are experiencing the worst birth rate decline on record.