Background Given rapidly ageing workforces and the challenges this poses, there is a need to better understand how injury in older workers impacts financially on individuals and society; Statistics NZ’s newly available Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) containing linked Governmental administrative and survey data provides the opportunity to explore this.
Aim To quantify the impact of injury over three years on the financial well-being of older workers.
Methods Using a population-based e-cohort of workers aged 45-64 years, linked de-identified IDI data from Inland Revenue (income tax), Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC; injury), Ministry of Health (chronic conditions) and Statistics NZ (socio-demographic) was used to compare the 21,639 with an injury-related entitlement claim in 2009 to the remaining 596,133. Adjusted geometric mean ratios (aGMRs) were used to estimate differences in work and total income from all taxable sources (work, pension, ACC, other benefits).
Results Differences in total income increased over time. In the third year, those injured received on average $NZ2630 less than the comparison group; equivalent to a 6.7% drop (aGMR 0.933 (95%CI 0.925, 0.941)). Restricting to income from work, those injured received 29.2% less than the comparison group at three years (aGMR 0.708 (95%CI 0.686, 0.730)).
Conclusion Although the substantial impacts of injury on income were mainly mitigated by public income transfers, relative losses in total income increased in the three years following injury. The loss of future earnings potential at a time when older workers need to be preparing financially for retirement is concerning and needs to be understood further.