By Dan Witters and Sangeeta Agrawal, Gallup, November 3, 2022
Nearly one-fifth of U.S. workers (19%) rate their mental health as fair or poor, and these workers report about four times more unplanned absences due to poor mental health than do their counterparts who report good, very good or excellent mental health. Projected over a 12-month period, workers with fair or poor mental health are estimated to have nearly 12 days of unplanned absences annually compared with 2.5 days for all other workers. Generalized across the U.S. workforce, this missed work is estimated to cost the economy $47.6 billion annually in lost productivity.
The most recent results, obtained Aug. 23-Sept. 7, 2022, are based on 15,809 U.S. working adults surveyed by web as a part of the Gallup Panel, a probability-based, non-opt-in panel of about 115,000 adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Missed days estimates are based on the question, "In the last month, how many workdays have you missed due to poor mental health?" Results are computed after controlling for age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, gender, household income, education, marital status and region of the country. The cost of a missed workday is conservatively estimated to be $340 per day for full-time workers and $170 per day for part-time workers.
Young and Female Workers Most Likely to Report Poor Mental Health
Struggles with mental health are not evenly distributed across the working population. As with other mental health indicators -- including depression -- women (23%) are more likely to report poor or fair mental health than are men (15%). Nearly one-third of young workers under the age of 30 (31%) do the same compared with 11% of those aged 50-64 and 9% of those aged 65 and over.
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