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Certificate of incapacity for work: An average of 5.31 days on sick leave in a quarter
Photo: Jens Büttner / dpa
Absences due to illness at work have increased, according to an evaluation by the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) at the beginning of this year. From January to the end of March, each working person was on sick leave for an average of 5.31 days, as the fund determined according to its own insurance data.
According to TK, this means that the sickness rate of employed insured persons reached a record high. In previous years, the average number of days absent in the first quarter had been 4.79 (2022) and 3.46 (2021).
Sick leave due to Corona declined
Particularly striking in the first three months of this year was the steady increase in absenteeism due to cold diagnoses, which also reached a record high of 1.74 days of absence. In comparison, in 2022, every employed TK insured person was on sick leave for 1.47 days with a cold diagnosis in the first quarter, compared to only 2021.0 days in 36 and 2020.1 days in 24.
TK chairman Jens Baas said that there had already been an above-average number of strong waves of colds and flu last year. "This trend seems to have continued." Sick leave due to corona diseases, on the other hand, fell in the first quarter of 2023 – resulting in an average of 0.107 days of absence per working person.
The data comes from the TK Health Report 2023 and is based on information on 5.6 million employees insured with the fund.
apr/AFP/dpa