Adequacy of Earnings Replacement
in Workers' Compensation Programs

A Report of the Study Panel on Benefit Adequacy
of the Workers' Compensation Steering Committee

National Academy of Social Insurance

"Workers' compensation programs provide benefits to workers disabled by workplace injuries and diseases. This study examines several tests of 'adequacy' for cash benefits and concludes that most states' workers' compensation programs do not meet these tests"

John F. Burton, Jr., Rutgers University

"If you got injured on the job, one of the first questions you would have would be: 'how am I going to pay the mortgage or the rent, feed the kids, and pay the bills?' This examination of benefit adequacy by the National Academy of Social Insurance puts a human face on the issue of the real cost of workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. What happens to workers who have to depend on workers' compensation, the oldest of our social insurance programs?"

James N. Ellenberger, Deputy Commissioner, Virginia Employment Commission

"This book raises impoprtant public policy issues that, primarily, employee and employer stakeholders should address state-by-state. By doing so, the 'original promise' of our nation's no-fault workers' compensation systems can be fulfilled with the creation and maintenance of systems that strike the delicate balance of benefit adequacy and return-to-work incentives."

Robert Steggert, Vice President Casualty Claims, Marriott International, Inc.

"This comprehensive evaluation of the adequacy of cash benefits in workers' compensation offers insights for other social insurance systems, including disability insurance and old age pensions. Wage-replacement standards pose some challenging measurement issues. At the same time, they are the best indicator of the public policy purpose these programs are meant to serve."

Lawrence H. Thompson, Senior Fellow, The Urban Institute