By most measures, workers in the EAIP group had injuries more severe than those for workers in the TD group, but less so than workers in the PPD group. For the EAIP group, the rate of return to work with the employer at injury following the light-duty job was considerably less than 100 percent. A previous departmental study showed an immediate attrition rate of 10 percent for the general population of Oregon wage earners. The real attrition rate from light duty under EAIP, then, is probably in the range of 4 to 6 percent. The employment rate for the first quarter of 1998 provides an indication of the longevity of wage work in Oregon.
Statistics reflect employment five to seven years after injury.
At 74 percent, the EAIP group was 7 percentage points above the PPD group, and 10 points above the TD group. Clearly, early return to work has a positive impact upon an average injured workers' prospects for reemployment. With unemployment lower by about 2 percentage points in the later part of the 1990s compared to earlier in the decade, the attrition rate probably declined. The information in IMD publications is in the public domain and may be reprinted without permission.