How much did long COVID cost the Australian economy?

Researchers have revealed that Australian workers with long COVID cost the economy about $9.6 billion in 2022.

Quentin Grafton, a professor at the Australian National University, said this is equivalent to one-quarter of Australia's real gross domestic product growth that year.

The researchers determined the full cost by calculating 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.

"Workers experiencing ongoing COVID-19 symptoms months after their initial diagnosis resulted in, on average, about 100 million lost labour hours in 2022," Grafton said. "This is equivalent to an average loss of eight hours per employed person, per year, including both full-time and part-time employment."

Tom Kompas, professor at the University of Melbourne, said workers aged between 30 and 49 contributed a loss of 52 million worked hours, or more than 50% of the total labour and productivity lost, to impact the economy the hardest in 2022.

Better support needed for people with COVID

The report's findings highlight the need to better support individuals who are living long COVID, according to the researchers.

"We need an enhanced health system capacity to treat long COVID and for social structures to support sufferers and manage their illness," Kompas said. "This would improve the quality of life and possibly also the rate at which individuals can return to the workforce."

Raina MacIntyre, a professor at the UNSW Sydney, underscored that it is time that long COVID is considered in policy decisions.

"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," MacIntyre said.

The report, led by the University of Melbourne, ANU, and UNSW Sydney, looked at the number of COVID-19 infections in Australia from January 2022 to December 2023. The full findings are published in The Medical Journal of Australia.