Sickness reports: Sick leave reduced economic output by almost one percent in 2023
According to a study, the peak in sickness reports last year contributed significantly to the poor economic development in Germany. The Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) said that sickness-related absences by employees caused damage amounting to 26 billion euros. This reduced economic output by 0.8 percentage points.
Last year the German economy shrank by 0.3 percent. According to this, Germany would have grown by 0.5 percent without the failures and would therefore not be in the recession. The VFA also announced that the lost working hours could not be compensated for. “The number of sick days has been so high for some time now that absences due to illness cannot easily be compensated for with the usual means such as overtime and restructuring.”
According to an analysis by the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit, an average of 55 out of 1,000 employees were on sick leave every day of the past year. Two thirds of employees, 64.5 percent, were on sick leave at least once in 2023.
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According to a study, the peak in sickness reports last year contributed significantly to the poor economic development in Germany. The Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) said that sickness-related absences by employees caused damage amounting to 26 billion euros. This reduced economic output by 0.8 percentage points.
Last year the German economy shrank by 0.3 percent. According to this, Germany would have grown by 0.5 percent without the failures and would therefore not be in the recession. The VFA also announced that the lost working hours could not be compensated for. “The number of sick days has been so high for some time now that absences due to illness cannot easily be compensated for with the usual means such as overtime and restructuring.”
