Employment outcomes of people with Long Covid symptoms: community-based cohort study

Abstract

Background: evidence on the long-term employment consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection is lacking. We used data from a large, community-based sample in the UK to estimate associations between Long Covid and employment outcomes.

Methods: this was an observational, longitudinal study using a pre–post design. We included survey participants from 3 February 2021 to 30 September 2022 when they were aged 16–64 years and not in education. Using conditional logit modelling, we explored the time-varying relationship between Long Covid status ≥12 weeks after a first test-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (reference: pre-infection) and labour market inactivity (neither working nor looking for work) or workplace absence lasting ≥4 weeks.

Results: of 206 299 participants (mean age 45 years, 54% female, 92% white), 15% were ever labour market inactive and 10% were ever long-term absent during follow-up. Compared with pre-infection, inactivity was higher in participants reporting Long Covid 30 to
Conclusions: Long Covid is likely to have contributed to reduced participation in the UK labour market, though it is unlikely to be the sole driver. Further research is required to quantify the contribution of other factors, such as indirect health effects of the pandemic.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Nisreen A. Alwan: orcid.org/0000-0002-4134-8463

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