Assessing socio-economic damage caused by morbidity of the employed population of the Arctic region

The health of the working-age population is an important socio-economic resource. Hyper-morbidity characteristic of the Arctic regions and high mortality rate of the working-age population, combined with a decrease in the labor force, cause significant damage to the economy. The problem of preserving health of the employed population has become most relevant due to the increasing the retirement age. The hypothesis of the study is that the scale of demographic and socio-economic losses in the region may depend on the age of the person and the nature of the disease. The aim is to study the dynamics of age-related changes in the scale and nature of morbidity in the employed population, as well as to assess the socio-economic damage caused by temporary disability. The information and empirical basis was made up by the data from the statistical form no. 16-VN “Information on the causes of temporary disability” in the Arkhangelsk Oblast for the period of 2010-2018. The article describes the theoretical aspects of the population morbidity impact on various aspects of the region’s socio-economic development, and also offers a classification of methodological approaches to assessing socio-economic damage due to health losses. A structural and dynamic analysis of the causes of temporary disability of the population of the Arctic region is carried out on the example of the Arkhangelsk Oblast; age features and trends of morbidity of the population employed in the region’s economy are revealed. Based on current methods, the age-related losses of labor potential, as well as socio-economic damage due to certain types of diseases were assessed. The analysis showed that there are some positive trends, including a reduction in the frequency and duration of disability cases caused by morbidity, and a reduction in the scale of economic damage due to certain types of diseases. The socio-economic problem is the decline in the health potential of the employed population with age. The results obtained can be used to adjust and evaluate the effectiveness of regional programs for social sphere development.