DWC: Texas Has Lowest Workplace Injury Rate in 10 Years

DWC: Texas Has Lowest Workplace Injury Rate in 10 Years

Texas private industry employers reported 172,800 total recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2024, the state’s lowest injury rate in 10 years, according to new data from the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC).

The 172,800 incidents represent an injury rate of 1.7 cases per 100 equivalent full-time employees (FTE), the lowest rate in the last 10 years and lower than the national rate of 2.3 in 2023. DWC reported 175,900 workplace injuries and illnesses in 2023 for an injury rate of 1.8 in 2023, compared to the national rate of 2.4

According to DWC, the health care and social assistance sector had the most injuries recorded in 2024, with 324,000. That was followed by retail trade at 268,000 and transportation / warehousing at 202,000.

The highest injury rates, although not necessarily the highest number of injuries, were recorded in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector at 3.9, followed by transportation and warehousing sector at 3.5.

Within sectors, the highest injury rates for specific occupations were 8.3 per 100,000 in air transportation; 7.9 for couriers and messengers; and 4.9 for both the hospitals textiles mills occupations.

Complete Texas nonfatal injury and illness incidence rate and number data tables by industry are available here.

Workplace Fatalities Drop Across the Nation

U.S. workplace fatalities fell 4% in 2024 from the year previous, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

BLS recorded 5,070 fatal work injuries in the United States in 2024, down from 5,283 in 2023. The decrease resulted in a fatal work injury rate of 3.3 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2024, compared to 3.5 per 100,000 FTE in 2023. According to the BLS, a worker died every 104 minutes from a work-related fatality in 2024, compared to every 99 minutes in 2023.

Notably, the BLS reported a 16.2% drop in fatalities due to exposure to harmful substances or environments in 2024, from 820 in 2023 to 687. Fatal drug or alcohol overdoses fell to 410 in 2024 from 512 in 2023.

The transportation and material moving occupations sector recorded the most fatalities by sector in 2024, with 1,391 fatal work injuries in 2024, a 7% decrease from 1,495 in 2023.

The next highest sector was construction and extraction workers, with 1,032 fatalities in 2024. That was followed by fatalities among building and grounds cleaning and maintenance workers (356) and protective service occupations (281).

BLS said transportation incidents were the most frequent type of fatal event, accounting for 38.2% of all occupational fatalities in 2024, despite the total fatal transportation incidents decreasing to 1,937 in 2024 from 1,942 in 2023.

The number of fatal falls, slips, and trips dropped to 844 in 2024, from 885 in 2023, representing a 4.6% decrease.

Fatal injury counts and rates by occupation, industry, and worker demographics are available here.

Report Cites Challenges Facing Workers' Comp Industry

Workers’ compensation insurers are facing several significant challenges, with medical cost inflation and an aging workforce leading the way, according to a joint report from Guidewire and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report also finds AI adoption increasing throughout the industry.

The report says that advances in medical technologies, improved historical datasets, and AI are creating a convergence of innovation in the workers’ compensation market, with leading insurers embedding capabilities throughout the insurance life cycle.

The report notes what it says are five trends accelerating the case for change within this market:

  • Escalating medical inflation: Since 1982, medical cost growth in the United States and other developed economies has consistently outpaced general inflation, driving higher claims severity and increasing recovery costs for workers’ compensation insurers operating in private-market health care systems.
  • Workforce transition and talent gap: The pending retirement of experienced underwriters and claims professionals is creating a significant talent shortfall — particularly in workers’ compensation, as decades of institutional knowledge leave the industry.
  • Rising mental health claims: Mental health-related claims are increasing at a notable pace, with stress, anxiety, and burnout comprising a growing share of total filings. Accelerated by post-pandemic workplace dynamics, this trend reflects a meaningful shift in employer risk exposure.
  • Expanding litigation risk: Evolving litigation patterns, including higher-frequency “nuclear verdicts” and large-scale class actions, are increasing loss volatility and introducing greater unmodeled risk for insurers.
  • Regulatory complexity and market competition: The shift from monopolistic state-based systems to more competitive market structures has expanded opportunity while intensifying competition. At the same time, workers’ compensation frameworks remain largely governed at the state or provincial level, creating a fragmented and highly complex regulatory landscape.

More information from the report is available here.

Workers' Comp Trends and Predictions Released

Employers can expect more federal deregulation in the year ahead, although the midterm elections could change that, according to a report from Sedgwick, a risk and claims administration firm.

Sedgwick recently published its Workforce Absence and Disability Trends Report, highlighting what it saw as key trends from 2025 and offering predictions for 2026.

Sedgwick experts’ top predictions for 2026 include:

  • Expansion of paid family and medical leave (PFML): In the absence of a federal mandate, states and municipalities are working to implement jurisdictional PFML. In the next two years, as many as 17 states could have mandatory paid leave, with others allowing insured programs through carrier providers.
  • Changes to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: Abortion provisions will likely be removed and pregnancy-related definitions narrowed.
  • New frontiers in AI: Data-driven insights could transform absence management, enabling proactive interventions and better forecasting.
  • More federal deregulation: Many federal agencies have received less funding and had their regulatory authority diminished by courts. But with key congressional and gubernatorial seats on the ballot in this year’s midterm elections, the balance of power may shift.

Looking back, Sedgwick identified the top trends from 2025 as the following:

  • Rising mental health concerns: Mental health has become a leading driver of employee absence, with stress, anxiety and burnout affecting productivity across industries.
  • Rethinking return-to-work: With today’s flexible work options, coming back to the office following leave is just one of many recovery solutions.
  • Evolving generational workforce needs: Employees today expect robust, flexible benefits that address a range of life circumstances and consider holistic wellness.
  • AI adoption: Across the employee benefits spectrum, advanced technology is reshaping processes and improving efficiency, but may introduce additional risks.

Information for downloading the report is available here.

Shortage of OSHA Safety Inspectors Raised by Inspector General

The limited number of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors trained to inspect workplaces for safety is included as a performance challenge in a new report from the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The annual Top Management and Performance Challenges report says the challenges are particularly acute for high-risk industries such as mining, health care, agriculture, construction, meatpacking, fishing, forestry, and manufacturing.

The report attempts to put pressure on OSHA to address the issue by saying it needs to ensure employers report injuries and illnesses, address workplace violence, and inspect workplaces with a “limited” corps of inspectors.

According to the report, OSHA has limited ability to focus inspection and compliance efforts where they are most needed because it has not effectively enforced its mandatory illness and injury reporting requirements for employers. It noted that, on average, between 2016 and 2020, 16.59% of establishments in all industries failed to report their mandatory annual injury and illness data to OSHA.

Additionally, OSHA could not identify if an establishment met the criteria for mandatory reporting. Therefore, OSHA could neither proactively remind specific establishments that they must report, nor effectively cite employers for noncompliance.

OSHA is also challenged in reaching the nation’s 11.6 million worksites because of a decrease in federal inspectors — from 846 in February 2024 to 736 in June 2025.

The report calls on OSHA to enhance efforts to address workplace violence, which may include taking regulatory action. OSHA does not have a workplace violence standard, relying instead on the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s General Duty Clause for enforcement. However, the Department of Labor plans an audit to determine the effectiveness of the General Duty Clause in OSHA’s enforcement efforts, including workplace violence.

The report is available here.

GLP-1 Medications Shown to Lower Medical Costs

Weight-loss drugs with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s) can reduce long-term medical cost growth for employers and improve workforce health outcomes, according to new research from Aon.

The findings come from the second phase of an Aon study of data from more than 50 million individuals covered under group health insurance policies provided by employers or organizations between July 2022 and March 2025. That included 192,000 patients prescribed GLP-1s such as Wegovy, Zepbound, Mounjaro or Ozempic.

According to the research, users of GLP-1s for diabetes experienced a slower increase in medical cost growth after 30 months compared to nonusers. Medical cost growth was 6 percentage points lower than for nonusers at 30 months and 9 percentage points lower for those with at least 80% adherence to GLP-1 therapy. For individuals using GLP-1s for weight loss, medical cost growth was 3 percentage points lower at 18 months.

The research found adherence is a critical driver of value. GLP-1 users who maintain at least 80% adherence to the therapy see greater cost reductions and statistically significant decreases in major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) hospitalizations and condition incidence than those with lower adherence.

GLP-1s were also found to have a more significant health impact on women than men, and to have a significant impact on women’s health issues. According to the research, female GLP-1 users are more likely to see reductions in hospitalizations for MACE, alcohol abuse, bariatric surgery and pancreatic disorders compared to males. Female GLP-1 users were observed to have lower incidence of ovarian cancer, breast cancer and osteoporosis than female nonusers. Conversely, female GLP-1 users experience higher rates of hospitalization for gallbladder surgery than men.

More information about the findings is available here.

Report Examines Trends in Pay Raises

One of the more watched compensation trends for 2026 is the growing interest in replacing merit-based pay raises with across-the-board salary increases, sometimes called “peanut butter increases.”

Pay raises traditionally were tied to performance ratings, which in recent years have been criticized as being subjective, bias-prone and administratively complex. New research from Payscale indicates the move to across-the-board raises is gaining popularity.

According to Payscale’s 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report, more than 40% of organizations are either using or actively considering standardized across-the-board or peanut butter pay increases in 2026. This increases to 56% for top performers (organizations that reported they would exceed their revenue goals in 2025).

Other findings from the report include:

  • Almost half (48%) of organizations plan to continue pay increases based on performance.
  • Nearly two in five organizations (18%) are considering peanut butter pay increases.
  • Some 16% of organizations are newly planning to implement peanut butter increases.
  • Almost one in 10 organizations (9%) already use peanut butter increases as their approach.
  • Some 8% of organizations are unsure.

The Payscale report finds pay increases in 2026 are holding steady. The report finds overall salary increases have not shifted materially and have not changed since last year. Median base-pay increases overall:

  • 2025 given base-pay increases: 3.5%
  • 2026 planned base-pay increases: 3.5%

Most employers (60%) believe their 2026 salary increases are competitive to retain and engage talent.

The report is available for download here.

70% of Workers Say They Are Underutilized

Nearly seven in 10 workers (69%) feel underutilized at work, saying their skills and abilities are not fully leveraged in their current roles, according to Resume Now’s Untapped Talent Report. Some 77% say being underutilized has slowed their career progression.

Other key findings from the survey of 1,018 adults conducted in November 2025 include:

  • Most (87%) find their day-to-day work only moderately challenging or less.
  • Some 65% say their organization shows limited recognition or alignment with their skills, interests and passions.
  • Six in 10 (62%) say their unique strengths are underutilized at least sometimes, even when recognized.
  • Some 72% say they would likely look for a new job if they felt consistently underutilized.
  • Almost four in 10 (38%) say leadership fails to notice underutilization, including 11% who say leadership does not notice or care.

Survey results show a disconnect between what employees believe they can contribute and what their roles demand of them.

  • Nearly three in 10 (28%) often feel they could contribute more.
  • The same percentage (28%) feel underutilized occasionally.
  • Only 31% say they rarely or never feel underutilized.

The survey found daily tasks fail to provide enough challenge to fully engage their skills or sustain long-term motivation for most employees, with 13% saying they find their work extremely challenging, 58% saying it is moderately challenging, 24% saying it is barely challenging, and 5% saying it is not challenging at all and that they’re bored.

Survey respondents say persistent underutilization results in slower skill development, fewer opportunities, and stalled career progress. According to the survey:

  • 17% say underutilization has significantly slowed their career progression and held them back in major ways.
  • 32% say it has moderately delayed their growth.
  • 28% say it has had a slight impact.

More information about the survey is available here.

Survey Offers Keys to Retaining Millennials

Millennials appear satisfied in their current job roles; however, many are prepared to move quickly if better pay, clearer growth paths, or stronger learning opportunities are on the table, according to a recent survey.

The survey of 515 millennials (ages 29-44) was conducted Dec. 1-5, 2025, by General Assembly, a provider of technical training and talent solutions. Key findings from the survey include the following:

  • 79% of millennial knowledge workers are satisfied with their jobs.
  • 49% would actively look for a new role if the job market improved.
  • 61% are actively pursuing AI education to future-proof their careers.
  • 84% of those with a clear career path are satisfied at work.
  • 39% say their early-career skills are becoming obsolete due to AI.
  • Job satisfaction is high but depends on seniority.

Despite high satisfaction, millennial loyalty is far from guaranteed. Almost half (49%) of survey respondents say that if hiring conditions improve, they would immediately begin looking for a new job. More than one in three (37%) say they would be open to recruiter outreach. Just 14% say they would stay put with no interest in new opportunities.

Compensation still matters, but learning and career clarity are what keep millennials committed. The survey shows 71% are satisfied with their on-the-job learning opportunities, 57% say learning opportunities have increased over the past three years, and 63% feel they have a clear career path.

The survey also finds a connection between internal opportunity and job satisfaction. Slightly more than half (54%) of respondents believe they don’t need to leave their company to advance. Of those, 81% say they are satisfied at work.

More information about the survey is available here.

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