Study Examines Worker Health by Sick Days and Health Insurance Access

With the coronavirus pandemic emphasizing the importance of worker health, the ability to take paid sick leave and have access to health insurance is crucial for employees in all fields. A study conducted by Zen Business examined data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Health Interview Survey to determine which industries are the healthiest and least healthiest based on the number of sick days taken, the practice of not taking any sick days, and access to health insurance. The data did not reveal positive results for workers in the hospitality and the maintenance industries.

Among workers reporting their own health status, the data found respondents describing their own health as “very good” or “excellent” most often came from the professional, scientific, and technical services. These workers are often highly educated and higher paid, which usually correlates with better health.

However, among what is considered “essential workers,” most people described their health as “fair” or “poor.” For example, only 16% of hospitality and maintenance workers reported their health was “very good” or “excellent.” In fact, repair and maintenance workers experienced the most dramatically worsened health since 2017. Those in this industry ranked their health as 13.9% worse than it had been previously.

The study also looked at which industries took the most and fewest sick days. It found that workers across all industries took very few sick days, with the average worker missing just 2.6 days of work over the course of an entire year for health-related reasons. Though this may indicate a healthy workforce, it also likely indicates a reluctance to use a sick day even when feeling ill.

The study found that among workers who took sick days:

• Hospitality workers took an average of 3.6 sick days in a year
• Repair and maintenance workers took an average of 3.5 sick days in a year

However, hospitality workers were the group most likely not to take sick days at all, with 65.2% reporting taking zero sick days in a year.

Among industries having access to health insurance, workers in the repair and maintenance industries were the least like to have this benefit, with 75.7% reporting they did not have access to health insurance.