The unpopular new Labour Act of 2004 costs employers millions of dollars and reduced the economic output, a new study of the research unit NEPRU claims. Released during the one-day labour forum this week the analysis said the 24 annual leave days were now counted as 24 working days instead of 24 consecutive days, resulting in 6 working days lost to employers, costing 1.1% loss to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or N$ 168 million per annum. In addition, the 5 days extra for compassionate leave each year granted under the new law, would cost 0.9% loss to GDP or N$140 million. Overall, N$308 million or 2% of GDP are lost annually due to this new law.