Every time every employee was in exactly 15.1 days of sick leave – since the Corona -related jump, this has been at the highest level for decades. This costs the 14 billion euros, so social security wants to strengthen the provision and health stimuli.
We already had this value in 1970, then the absent days rose to 1980, but since then they have continuously become less than 13 days. Until that time, Corona was “a turn. Since then we have been more than 15 days. And 70.1 percent of the insured person was with sick leave at least once,” explains Wifo expert Christine Mayrhuber about the study she created for social security.
For comparison: in 2019, only 54.7 percent remained away from work due to illness. Moreover, the gap between cases continues. A good 43 percent of all sick leave was short (less than four days) and therefore only 10 percent of the absenteeism existed. A small group of long -term diseases strongly increases the statistics. About 3 percent of people, that is, around 167,000 people, were at least 40 days on sick leave, but caused 40 percent of the absent days.
It is also striking that women who used to fail considerably less than men are even an average of 15.9 days (men: 14.5 days). For the expert this must also be due to the increasing employment of older women, the professions (many in strenuous social and health jobs) and the multiple burden. Vlereg has more sickness absence up to 20 and then people older than 60. There are even differences in the region: statistically, the healthiest De Salzbur (12.8 days), while lower Austrians were the leaders with 17.5 days.
In any case, the economic effects are enormous. According to the WiFo, direct costs incur by constantly postponing 5.8 billion euros by postponing constant wages, extra overtime hours of recruiting colleagues, etc. A sick leave costs the company around 250 euros, the Chamber of Commerce expects. If you still calculate the failure of the working volume and other factors, it is even up to 14 billion euros or a good 4 percent of GDP that are lost.
If long -term cases can only be reduced by 10 percent, this would only result in 2.6 million extra working days, which corresponds to around 7,000 full -time employees. Given the progressive shortage of trained employees, one cannot do without this potential, adds Peter McDonald, president of the Social Insurance Association. Moreover, the financing of health services is becoming increasingly difficult. “That’s why we have to keep people in a healthy way in contact with people.”
In addition to increased offers in preventive investigations, better advice for the medical profession in the case of sick leave (in East Eastrijk only 50 percent of the sick leave limited to sick leave) and abuse control, even with AI use, McDonald wants to create stimuli for insured persons. It would be possible to repay the ECARD allowance if you participate in medical health measures.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
