Policy Information Exchange

Researchers at the University of Arkansas' Center for Business and Economic Research found that methamphetamine use in Benton County, Ark. -- home to worldwide retailing giant Wal-Mart -- could be costing employers there about $21 million a year, according to the Workplace Substance Abuse Advisor.

Researchers surveyed employees in the county about their occupations, education levels, annual gross income, number of unplanned absences per month, whether they used methamphetamine in the workplace, and whether their work had been affected by the use of alcohol or drugs.

The analysts then applied national figures measuring the economic impact of substance use due to absenteeism, productivity, turnover, employee theft, workers' compensation claims, and healthcare costs to the survey results and to population-level data from Benton County.

Findings indicate that a methamphetamine-using employee costs an employer about $47,000 per year. Fifty percent of the costs are due to lost productivity, 32 percent to absenteeism.

The findings are based on responses from 648 employees.

The Wal-Mart Foundation funded the study. It is available online in PDF format at http://cber.uark.edu/data/Meth_Benton_County.pdf.

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