Treasurer reveals extent of long Covid among Australian workers

The Treasurer has revealed the numbers of Aussies calling in sick every day with one debilitating condition.

Jim Chalmers says some 31,000 Australian workers are calling in sick every day because of long Covid-19.

The Treasurer said Australia’s skills and labour shortages were being “turbocharged” by the pandemic, including by people having to miss work as they suffer from long Covid.

Medical experts are still studying the potentially debilitating and little-understood condition, with people continuing to experience symptoms for months or even years after their initial infection with the virus.

Dr Chalmers said employers and unions had “consistently raised” with the government the effects acute and long-term cases of Covid were having on the labour force.

“That is a very big concern to us, so obviously that will be a key concern of the Jobs and Skills Summit as well,” Dr Chalmers told reporters in his home electorate of Logan on Friday.

“We want a healthy workforce, we want a productive workforce and a well-paid workforce, and all of these challenges are intertwined.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Covid-19 and its effect on the labour force will be discussed at the jobs summit. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Treasury data reported in News Corp papers revealed 12 per cent of the workforce is staying home sick because of long Covid.

About 31,000 Australian workers called in sick every day in June because of the condition, analysis of the data found.

Treasury has also estimated the Australian economy lost three million working days in the first half of this year due to long Covid.

“The concerning thing, about the long Covid-19 numbers, is that we cannot assume that, once people have gone through the worst of Covid-19, that that is the end of the matter,” he said.

About 100 representatives from business, unions and the public sector will convene in Canberra for the jobs summit, which will aim to find consensus on Australia’s economic challenges and boost productivity.