As of: January 26, 2024, 11:27 a.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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Germany has slipped into recession.
According to a new study, it's not just the infamous crises that are responsible for this.
Without the record high level of sickness, the economy would have grown in 2023.
Berlin – 20 days sick: This is how long German employees will be absent from work on average in 2023.
This is the conclusion reached by a recent study by the pharmaceutical industry.
In 2023, this value exceeded the previous record from 2022, which ultimately pushed the Federal Republic into recession.
A key message: If sick leave had not been so high, the economy would have grown.
Average loss of work among Germans (2023) |
20 days |
|---|---|
Possible economic growth without increased sick leave |
0.5 percent |
Actual economic growth |
Minus 0.3 percent |
Economic growth would be possible without record levels of sickness
The loss of work resulting from the numerous sick reports would have led to considerable losses in production.
“Without the above-average sick days, the German economy would have grown by almost 0.5 percent,” the study concludes.
The
Rheinische Post
first reported and referred to the yet-to-be-published study by the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA).
Sickness triggers recession – Germans unable to work for 20 days © IMAGO / Panama Pictures Christoph Hardt
“Instead of a mild recession, there would have been an increase of almost half a percent in 2023,” the paper quotes authors Claus Michelsen and Simon Junker.
German employees would have earned 26 billion euros more with less sick leave.
The high level of sickness continued to impact health insurance.
In the last two years, the numerous loss of work resulted in reduced tax revenue of 15 billion euros.
Depending on the industry, the number of sick reports varies significantly.
According to the study, 70 percent of the production loss was attributable to vehicle construction, mechanical engineering, as well as the metal, electrical, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
In no other industry was the sickness rate as high as in metal production: here it reached
6.8 percent, according to the
AFP news agency.
Short-term illnesses drive sick leave
The majority of all sick notes are for short-term illnesses that are resolved after about a week.
The information service of the German Economic Institute (IWD) lists, for example, RS viruses, corona and similar colds.
The corona numbers are currently increasing again, but remain “below the level of the first waves”.
According to IWD, the infections are mild in most cases.
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Above all, it is the older colleagues who are absent for longer periods.
For those over 55, downtime is twice as long as for younger employees.
In the upper age groups, more physical signs of wear and tear or serious illnesses tend to cause absence from work.
German economy falls by 0.3 percent
As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced in mid-January, the price-adjusted gross domestic product in 2023 was 0.3 percent lower than in the previous year.
“The overall economic development in Germany stalled in 2023 in an environment that is still characterized by crises,” explained Ruth Brand, President of the Federal Statistical Office, at a press conference.
Prices that remain high at all levels of the economy “despite the declines” would dampen the economy.
Destatis has primarily identified unfavorable financing conditions due to rising interest rates and lower demand as problem areas.
“This means that the recovery of the German economy from the deep slump in the Corona year 2020 did not continue,” said Brand.
Compared to the pre-Corona year 2019, GDP was 0.7 percent higher.
With material from AFP