The sick leave does not stop growing.
Social Security data attest to this in recent years, figures that have served the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Ivie) and the mutual company Umivale Activa to prepare a report that x-rays the phenomenon.
The study highlights that throughout 2023, more than 400 temporary disability (TI) processes were registered in Spain per 1,000 workers, the highest incidence reported in the last decade.
This volume of sick leave led the country to lose 396 million working days due to IT throughout the year, 62% more than in 2018, above the increase in employment.
Thus, on average around one million workers were absent from work due to illness in 2023. This increase worries employers and unions, as they stated in the salary pact they signed in May of last year, and encouraged them to demand greater participation of mutual insurance companies in the treatment of trauma casualties.
This possibility is under negotiation between social agents and the Ministry of Social Security.
“The initiated IT processes in relation to the volume of protected population experienced a sustained decline after the outbreak of the Great Recession from the end of 2008 until 2013. However, since 2014 the index has not stopped growing, currently standing at maximums for the period, although with notable differences depending on the type of contingency and managing entity,” the study details.
The index for common contingencies stands at 409 new processes per 1,000 workers protected in those managed by mutual insurance companies (an increase of 67% in 10 years) and at 414 among those protected by the National Social Security Institute (an increase of 138% ).
The trend is different with respect to professional contingencies, reaching 41.6 new processes per 1,000 workers in the case of mutual insurance companies in 2023 (barely 10% more than in 2013 and a lower level than in 2008) and 59.6 in Social Security (182% more than in 2013 and double than in 2008).
The report highlights that these long-term trends were affected during the 2020-2022 period by the pandemic, “with large increases in processes due to professional contingencies, with a return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023.”
In 2023, professional contingencies represent 9% of the total new IT processes, while common contingencies represent 91%.
“With the passage of time, and leaving aside the exceptional period of the pandemic, the first type of contingencies has been losing weight (four percentage points less than in 2013), while the second has gained weight to the same extent.”
Likewise, it highlights that 72% of the processes initiated in 2023 correspond to mutual companies, a percentage similar to that of 2013 and nine points higher than in 2008.
The researchers point out that in 2023 the total number of days lost due to IT, excluding self-employed workers, exceeded 396 million, “the maximum for the period analyzed and 62% more than the 243 million days lost in 2018.”
They clarify that "a part of this increase can be attributed to the increase in the employed population, which in 2023 is at historic highs for Spain, but another very substantial part is due to the increase in days lost per capita."
With these accounts, Ivie and Umivale Activa indicate that during 2023 an average of 1.1 million workers would have been absent from their workplace each day due to a temporary disability.
“Which, in other words, would be equivalent to an average of 20 days of absence per year per worker,” they add.
The study also addresses the duration of sick leave, which has fallen in recent years.
The average duration per common contingency is 34.4 days, somewhat below professional contingencies (37.3 days).
“These values represent appreciable decreases in the case of common contingencies compared to the 41 days of the 2018-19 biennium and even more compared to the durations of 2020-21, greater than 50 days.
In the case of professional contingencies, the situation is very similar to that of 2018, with a return to the pre-pandemic situation,” they indicate.
There is also a regional analysis, which reflects a high degree of heterogeneity.
A higher incidence of common contingencies is observed in the autonomous regions with the most economic development, such as Navarra and Catalonia, with around 600 casualties per 1,000 workers.
It is lower in Extremadura, Asturias and Galicia, with less than 300 casualties.
The data also reflects disparity in the duration of the processes: in Extremadura and Galicia it exceeds 60 days on average, while in the Balearic Islands, Madrid, Catalonia or Navarra the average duration of sick leave is around 25 days.
Causes and solutions
The experts consulted have been pointing to several reasons to explain this increase in sick leave: today workers over 50 years of age are 34%, when two decades ago they were 19%;
Public health suffers from years of cuts that increase waiting lists, which lengthens the treatment of some ailments;
and the labor market, right now, operates at full capacity, with a record of employed people that deflates the fear of unemployment, so that fewer choose to work sick.
José María Peiró, Ivie researcher and project director, shares the importance of these factors, but provides other nuances.
“The incidence is also growing among young people, not just among aging workers,” he notes.
He notices an underlying trend: “Since the post-pandemic there is a different way of approaching work.
In the United States it manifested itself in the Great Resignation, many people leaving their jobs voluntarily.
Not here, because the unemployment rate is high, but the phenomenon is similar: many people are in crisis regarding the meaning of what they do, it is a silent absence.
I think it has something to do with this phenomenon.”
He believes that this occurs to a greater extent the worse the worker feels in the company.
“The growing intensity of the phenomenon of absenteeism due to IT, which in Spain is currently at maximum, historical levels and among European countries, deserves a rigorous analysis, given the notable costs it entails for workers, companies and society as a whole. together”, concludes the report.
“An analysis of the determinants of IT is necessary to shed light on the factors involved in absenteeism.
Adequate identification will facilitate the approach of prevention actions, early action and establishment of corrective measures.”
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