The results of a report from the National Academy of Social Insurance seem to indicate that even though employers are paying more for workers compensation, that doesn’t necessarily translate to more treatment or care for injured workers. In fact, the report shows that benefits for workers are actually on the decline.

The report is titled “Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2013” and was released this month. It showed that the amount of covered workers has increased about 3.8 percent in the past five years, corresponding with the overall uptick in employment numbers after the recession. The total benefits paid have also increased 8.2 percent in the past five years (likely linked to increased number of workers in the workforce). However, the study found that workers’ compensation benefits per $100 of covered wages is down five percent to $.98 per $100 when it was $1.03 in 2009. Employer costs per $100 of covered wages increased by five percent to $1.37 since 2009. Covered wages account for the number of workers who are legally required to be covered by workers’ comp, and covered workers comprise roughly 90 percent of the workforce. In 2013 total workers’ compensation benefits amounted to $63.3 billion, which is an increase from 2009, but accounting for changes in covered payroll (an increase of 13.8 percent), total benefits as a portion of the payroll actually decreased. Meanwhile employer costs for workers’ compensation have increased by 19.8 percent since 2009 to $88.5 billion.

According to John Burton, a Rutgers and Cornell University professor, the decline in benefits may be due to a drop in injury rates and laws in several states that made it difficult to qualify for workers’ compensation benefits. Benefits per $100 of covered wages for injured workers declined in 39 states (78 percent) while employer costs per $100 of wages increased in 27 states (54 percent). In the past five years the state with the largest decrease to employer costs was West Virginia, which switched from a state fund to a private insurer system after 2009. There were increases in benefits and costs as a whole, but there are also more workers on the payroll now so the distribution may mean benefits are decreasing relative to payroll.