A new report from the National Academy of Social Insurance found that the number of workers covered by workers’ compensation dropped by 4.4 percent in 2009. That’s the biggest decline in two decades. Employer costs for benefits fell by 7.6 percent to $73.9 billion, which is due to the overall decline in jobs.

The main reason for this drop is the decline in employment, according to officials. “As one might expect, when the Great Recession hit, employers paid less in workers’ compensation costs because there were fewer workers to cover,” said John F. Burton, Jr., chair of the panel that oversees the report. “Although the drop in employer costs represents the biggest decrease in the last two decades, benefits increased slightly by 0.4 percent to $58.3 billion, reflecting in part benefits provided in 2009 to workers injured in prior years.”

In 2009, the total benefits paid to injured workers increased in 23 states as well as in the District of Columbia. Benefits declined in the other 27 states compared to 2008. The study also shows that payments for medical care declined for the first time in a decade by just over 1 percent to $28.9 billion. Employers paid a total of $73.9 billion for workers’ comp which equals out to about $1.30 per $100 of payroll. That’s the lowest in more than three decades.