Above: Lead author of the study, Dr George Verikios
A new study examining the impact of chronic disease on the national economy estimates that Australia could add billions to its real GDP by improving the health of its oldest workers.
Researchers from Monash University examined the relationship between health and workforce participation to analyse the wider impact of chronic disease on the economy.
Lead author, Dr George Verikios from the Centre of Policy Studies, said the labour market was the main area of the economy to be affected by the indirect costs of chronic disease through reduced productivity and participation.
However, improving the health of 10 per cent of the unhealthiest older workers (those aged 49-60) could have strong effects on the country’s economy, the study reported.
Dr Verikios estimated that employment could rise by 0.13 per cent and real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 0.1 per cent over the period 2011-2030.
“Days off and withdrawing from the labour force increase production costs for businesses and make it harder to find workers. If there was better health management for older workers these impacts would be reduced,” Dr Verikios said.
The researchers argued that with appropriate health programs and interventions in place, the health of older workers would decline more slowly and their workforce participation would therefore improve as they age.
Similar improvements in health status for younger workers (those aged 29-38) lead to much smaller effects with employment forecast to rise by 0.01 per cent and real GDP by 0.008 per cent.
Dr Verikios said further research was required to understand the full impact of health treatments and disease prevention on the Australian economy.