Past and future lost earnings and fringe benefits for a person whose injury has removed them from work or reduced what they can earn. The analysis builds from the earnings history, projects the but-for path over the person's expected worklife with wage growth, and discounts the future stream to present value. When the person can still work in a reduced capacity, the loss is framed as diminished earning capacity, with the post-injury path drawn from a vocational opinion or the treating record and offset against the but-for projection.
KW Economics prepares lost earnings analysis for plaintiff and defense counsel nationwide; the method is the same whichever side retains the economist.
Lost earnings analysis at KW Economics is directed by Christopher Skerritt, M.Ed., MBA, Chief of Economic Services, who is available to testify to it.
When the post-injury earnings path turns on what the injured person can still do and earn, that opinion is a vocational one: the affiliated vocational practice prepares it, and the economist builds the lost earnings analysis on it so the two reports reconcile at deposition and trial. Vocational assessment at the affiliated practice.
How lost earnings analysis applies to the specific demands of each case type: methodology, deliverables, and what counsel should expect.
Several years of tax returns and W-2s or 1099s, recent pay stubs, the employer's personnel file and benefit summaries, union or pension records, and the medical or work-capacity opinions that describe what the person can do now. For a self-employed claimant, business returns and financial statements replace the wage records. The analysis can begin before every record is in hand and is updated as the file fills.
From published worklife tables by age, sex, and education, adjusted for facts in the record such as a stated retirement plan or a health condition that predates the injury. The report names the table, states the years applied, and shows how the total changes under an earlier or later retirement so the choice can be examined rather than taken on faith.
As the gap between the but-for path and the post-injury path. The but-for path is projected from the earnings history with wage growth; the post-injury path is drawn from actual earnings after the injury and the work-capacity opinions in the record. Lost advancement, reduced hours, and lost benefits are part of the gap, and the difference is discounted to present value over the remaining worklife.
Retention and the records request take about a week, the analysis two to four weeks once the records arrive, and the draft and final report one to two weeks after that. Disclosure deadlines are set at retention, and the report can be supplemented when new records or a revised trial date arrive.
No state licenses forensic economists. Qualification to testify on lost earnings analysis is decided case by case on education, method, and testimony history; these pages explain what each credential establishes and what it does not.
Request a consultation on Lost Earnings or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.