U.S. workers are still calling in sick more than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published Friday.

Writing in JAMA Network Open, six researchers reported that health-related absences from work averaged 1.29 million sick days per month between the end of the public health emergency in May 2023 and December 2024.

That’s 12.9% or 140,000 more absences per month than the 1.15 million recorded before pandemic health restrictions began in March 2020. It’s also not far below the 1.79 million people who took sick days each month during the height of the emergency between 2020 and 2023.

Researchers analyzed the responses of 158.4 million workers to federal surveys between January 2010 and December 2024. They called the post-pandemic sick day average “a new baseline” that should shape future public policy.

“For example, the increase in health risk has likely raised the value to workers of paid-leave policies and existing social safety net programs,” the researchers wrote. 

They said further research will be needed to help policymakers identify ways of mitigating labor market disruptions in future pandemics.

Some medical and workforce experts reached for comment affirmed the study’s findings.

“The pandemic made more people aware of the burden of respiratory illnesses and how disruptive they can be to everyday life,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

However, they disagreed on the reason for the trend and the need to revise labor policies.

“Before the pandemic, sick leave policies existed on paper but were culturally discouraged,” said Lacey Kaelani, CEO of Metaintro, a New York City-based job search engine. “Now it’s front and center because candidates are specifically looking for it. Policymakers should focus on paid sick leave mandates and protections against retaliation for using it.”

She noted that job postings advertising “flexible sick leave” through her platform have increasingly outperformed others at attracting applicants.

Walter Block, a free market economist teaching at Loyola University New Orleans, said there’s no need for public policymakers to do anything.

“If this [trend] perturbs employers, I expect they will do something about it,” Mr. Block said. “Maybe require a doctor’s note for absences above a certain amount?”

Attorney Lisa Cummings, an Oklahoma-based employment benefits law expert, chalked up much of the increase in sick leave to people taking more “mental health days” from work.

“I can confirm that the actual underlying health plan claims reflect a surprising increase in mental health claims,” said Ms. Cummings, who previously held corporate jobs at Walmart and Dell Technologies. “The mental health issues could be a result of the isolation during COVID, as well as the fact that mental health issues are now more socially acceptable to discuss.”

She said that while federal law discourages employers from inquiring about workers’ reasons for taking a sick day, the lingering effects of long COVID infections have also driven up absences.

The study published Friday found that employers allowing hybrid or remote work were less likely than others to have workers call in sick.

Specifically, the researchers noted that absences for employees in work-from-home jobs surged by 8.1% after the pandemic, compared with a 12.5% increase for workers “in high physical proximity occupations.”

During the post-pandemic period, people also quit the workforce in greater numbers following health-related absences.

The study found that an average of 117,300 people per month quit the labor force after taking sick days in the post-pandemic period. That’s an increase of 13.1% or 13,500 workers per month quitting for health-related reasons before the pandemic.

It’s also not far behind the 134,200 people who quit each month during pandemic restrictions.

According to the study, this “substantially higher exit rate” rules out the possibility that people merely became more likely to call in sick.

“Our point-in-time outcomes suggested that 49 in 10,000 US adults, or 133,000 in total, were not in the labor force in December 2024 and would have been but for COVID-19 illnesses,” the researcher wrote.

Panagis Galiatsatos, a physician at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, predicted that sick day use will nevertheless return to pre-pandemic rates as time passes.

“COVID, like other coronaviruses, will find a pattern to it,” Dr. Galiatsatos said. “Just needs time.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.