While health-related barriers to workforce participation cost Canada more than $100 billion in economic output in 2025, reducing those barriers by 25 per cent could recover more than $25 billion annually, according to a new report by Deloitte Canada.

“I don’t think the connection between health and the economy is necessarily new,” says Michelle Theroux, national health leader at Deloitte Canada. “But $25 billion is a lot of money. . . . We do believe health belongs on the competitiveness agenda and should be treated with the same discipline and measurement rigor that the country applies to trade, capital and other types of investments related to the economy.”

Read: 30% of Canadian employees say mental health negatively impacting productivity: survey

The report found of that lost $100 billion in productivity, $55.1 was associated with morbidity, including time away from work due to illness, while $48.5 billion in lost labour income was tied to unpaid caregiving........

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