The average cost of lost productivity in the United States is currently estimated at $11 billion per year. According to a paper by Michael A. Hout, M.D., Ph.D., and David J. Pfeifer, Ph.D., reported in the Journal of Industrial Medicine, they estimated that the cost of lost productivity to the United States economy was $17.7 trillion in 2009.

This is in addition to the lost productivity that comes from being laid off, ill, or injured.