Oregon Employment Department. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
For the ninth year in a row, Oregon employers on average will spend less in 2022 on workers’ compensation, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services said in a Wednesday news release.
The agency projected that employers next year will pay 97 cents for every $100 of payroll for workers’ compensation costs on average. That’s down from the current figure of $1.02 per $100 in payroll costs.
The trend follows a decline in frequency of lost-time claims, claim costs and medical costs, the release said.
Oregon has been among the lowest-ranked states “for many years” in workers’ compensation premium rates, the base rate by which insurers set medical costs and lost wages paid by employers, the agency said. In 2020, the state recorded the seventh-least expansive rates in the country.
The agency attributed the continued decline in costs to state workplace safety agencies, including the Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, injured worker and small business advocacy services, and the Workers’ Compensation Board that settles disputes related to state laws for workers’ compensation and workplace safety.
The projection showed the premium rate will fall by an average 5.8% next year, declining 51% from 2013 to 2022, according to the agency, which sets rates annually.
“As we move forward with our rate-setting process, we are focused on taking a cautious, balanced approach,” Andrew Stolfi, director and insurance commissioner for the agency, in a prepared statement. “It’s an approach that accounts for a recovering economy and helps stabilize programs that benefit employers and workers.”
-Ardeshir Tabrizian
